Of a Darkness Fortold
by x-SystemRestore
Summary: Team Galactic wants to change the universe mankind lives in, its up to the Champions to stop them before its too late...
1. A Heavy Burden

**A/N **_Do I think I'm digging myself a huge grave by having three open projects? (AKA stories) Possibly. _

_Anyways, this ficlet is basically all about the Champions. But, (hope I'm not pissing off some fans) it'll be mainly centered around Cynthia and Steven. Mainly because they are my two most favorite Champions and I honestly think they could kick some major ass together. The only Champion that won't be making an appearance at all will be Wallace. Sorry, but he's my least favorite Champion (aside from Lance) and he's Champion in only one Pokemon game. Basically, I don't really like him. Sorry to all those Wallace fans out there. He's a great gym leader, but I hate him as a Champion. _

_I'm going to say sorry in advance for those of you who get confused easily. This fic will be part anime based and game based. I don't want to say manga based because the only chapters I have read in the Pokemon Adventures manga are the chapters for Ruby & Sapphire. I'll try my best to keep somewhat of a consistency in plot however.  
_

_

* * *

_

**Character List:**

_Cynthia - 21 years old_

_Lance - 22 years old  
_

_Steven - 22 years old  
_

_-_

_

* * *

  
_

**Of a Darkness Fortold  
**

**Chapter 1: A Heavy Burden  
**

"Stop! Hold it right there!"

It was near midnight, but the sleepy little town seem to awaken gradually as the commotion outside grew louder. Lights within the small houses lit up as the citizens, mainly elderly, opened up their front doors just a crack to get a peek at what was going on in their usually peaceful town.

An elderly woman with a hunched back stopped one of the police officers that were running past her house. In a croaking voice she asked, "What is the matter? What has happened?"

"Everything's under control ma'am. I suggest you go back into your home. You will be safer in there." He replied, ushering her back inside. Once he saw her close the door behind her, he ran to catch up with his fellow officers. He could barely see them for the night was especially dark due to there being no moon in the sky. Pressing on, he saw the thieves they were pursuing. Their neat, bobbed haircuts and their silver metallic attire struck him odd and he wondered why in the world anyone would choose to pull off a heist wearing such an eyecatching outfit. Even in the darkness, he saw their shiny clothes give off a dull light.

One of them finally turned around and took out a pokeball. "Go! Stunky!" In a flash of light, the small purple colored pokemon appeared. The pursuing policemen were stopped in their tracks when the Stunky began to growl lowly.

"Use poison gas!" The light blue haired man commanded.

The Stunky promptly opened up its mouth and a thick, purple gas began flowing out. The officers were immediately engulfed in the poisonous gas and ran around, trying to get out from it. Some of them began to retch and tear up as the gas became too much for them. The oddly dressed man zapped his Stunky back into its pokeball and ran, catching up to his fellow companion.

"Did you get them?"

"Stopped them right in their tracks." The man grinned deviously. "This is easier than what Commander Mars said it would be."

The female look-a-like of him smirked. She held the glassy orb tightly in her arms. "She will be very pleased once she finds out we've succeeded." Unknowingly to them, a figure dressed in black stepped into the middle of the road, blocking their path.

"You're not getting further than here." A strong, commandeering voice said.

The two stopped. The light blue haired man growled and shouted, "Get out of our way if you know what's best for you!" It angered them even more when the figure laughed, sounding amused. The figure got closer to them and they saw that it was a woman with knee length, curled blond hair. Black hairbands adorned her head and her black high heeled boots made a soft clacking sound as she walked closer to them. Her steely gray eyes were locked onto them and all around her was an air of confidence and determination.

Slightly shaken by this encounter, the two took a step back and both took out a pokeball.

"Go! Croagunk!"

"Go! Murkrow!"

They shouted as they threw the pokeballs. The frog-like pokemon and the bird pokemon appeared. When they saw that the woman didn't seem affected by their pokemon, the angrier they got. "We'll give you one last chance to walk away on your own! If you don't we'll-"

"You'll what? Defeat me?" The woman laughed again. "It'll take a lot more than those two to get past me!" She yelled as she took out a pokeball and threw it high up into the air. "Come on out, Garchomp!"

The dragon type pokemon let out a loud roar as it landed on the ground in front of the woman. It began to frighten the two oddly dressed characters. However, they knew an even worse future lie ahead of them if they were to fail their mission. But before they could get the courage to call out an attack, the blond haired woman ordered her pokemon to attack first.

"Garchomp, use Dragon Rush!"

The Garchomp kicked off the ground and immediately a blue aura surrounded it as it flew forth towards the helpless Murkrow and the Croagunk. In a powerful impact, the two pokemon flew high up into the air and fell back down with a slam. The pokemon were instantly knocked out and were unable to move.

"Damn it..." They hissed under their breath.

"Return the orb now and I'll let you two go free."

"Heh, not a chance!" The man shouted back.

"Oh? Can you still put up a decent fight? Even if you have more pokemon, you're just wasting your time."

"Wasting our time?" The woman asked incredulously, blinded by her foolishness. "The only one that's been wasting time is you! You've been wasting your time all this time!"

"What?" The blonde asked, narrowing her eyes.

The man grabbed his partner by the arm. "Stop it. We're only grunts and you're spilling out all our information to this woman!"

Just then, they were grabbed from behind and put into handcuffs. More police officers had arrived from the town and they now had the glassy orb in their possession. All the while, the light blue haired woman giggled crazily. "You've been wasting your time...you've been wasting your time..." She continuously said as if it were her mantra. Before the officers led they away, the woman turned to face the blonde.

"What is your name?" She asked.

"I believe that's none of your concern."

The woman let out another crazy laugh. "Cynthia, was it? I believe that was the name our boss mentioned before." She grinned. "Team Galactic's gonna change the world...no, the whole damned universe! And you won't be able to anything about it! Nothing at all!"

Cynthia clenched her fists tightly. She glared at them as the police officers led them back towards the town. Once they were all gone, her Garchomp came over to her. It made low growling sound that sounded more like a rough purr. She noticed it looked slightly concerned. "You did good Garchomp." Cynthia smiled as she zapped the pokemon back inside its ball. Silently she began her walk back towards Celestic Town.

She knew that the Lustrous Orb had been the target for many thieves over the years and each one had been successfully caught before any damage could be done to the orb itself or anything else. Luckily, none of the thieves that had stolen the item previously knew that its real value was not limited to riches and wealth, but something far more complex and grand.

A sudden fear struck through her body. Cynthia quickened her pace to a full out run. She arrived at the town and found it to be peaceful once more as she ran towards her grandmother's home. The lights were still on inside as Cynthia knocked on the door hurriedly. She breathed hard as her grandmother opened up the front door. She saw her like this and asked, "Cynthia...I've never seen you look like this."

"May I ask you something, grandmother?"

"Come in." She stepped aside to let the blonde inside the house. Once the door was closed, Cynthia whipped around and asked, "Did you receive any information about anyone attempting to steal the Adamant Orb?"

"What is this all of a sudden? I know you went out to stop the robbery of the Lustrous Orb earlier, but this is the first time I've seen you-" She stopped when she saw a worried look over her granddaughter's face. "Did they say something to you...?"

Cynthia sighed and sat down on a couch. "One of them told me, before she was led away by the officers, that they were planning to change the universe. I know I shouldn't take it seriously, but it's just a feeling I got after wards that made me fear for what might happen." She faced her grandmother and narrowed her gray eyes. "They sounded ridiculous at first, but it's not impossible and they are the first ones to sound as if they knew what the two orbs are capable of."

Her grandmother sat down on the couch beside her. "Even if they manage to steal the Lustrous Orb from us again, they will still need the other pieces of the puzzle in order to summon the legendaries once more."

"Tell me that you're sure the Adamant Orb is safe."

"I'm sure. You know yourself that we've separated the two orbs in case someone happened to know what to do with them."

"...The people I've met tonight looked like they were from Team Galactic. The same one that told me about the group's plans told me that we were wasting our time."

"Wasting your time? With what?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. This is why I wanted to know whether or not the Adamant Orb was safe. I feared that they already had it in their possession."

"I assure you Cynthia. The orb is safe in Hoenn. Only four people know exactly where it is: you, myself, Mr. Stone, and his son."

"They better not have hidden it in some vault. That's hardly enough to-"

"It's not in a vault. Mr. Stone has informed me that they recently moved the orb to another location. He has yet to tell me since he needs to come over in person." When she still saw the slightly worried expression on Cynthia's face, she sighed. "I know how worried you feel for the people of Sinnoh."

"Try the whole universe, grandma."

"You mustn't carry this whole burden by yourself. You even seemed troubled when I had told you months ago that I sent the Adamant Orb away to Hoenn."

"I feel as if I must protect everyone. Others look up to me grandma. Especially those in the Sinnoh region since I am the Champion. I can't help but burden myself with these responsibilities."

Her grandmother smiled. "You're very gentle and kind, Cynthia. But you can trust others to help, can't you?"

Cynthia returned the smile. "Perhaps..."

* * *

He was nearly at his wits end. "You want me to do what now...?"

_"Come to Sinnoh to guard the Lake Guardians." _

"And leave my position at the Indigo Plateau?"

_"I know that's not an easy task, Lance, but I ask that you simply come over to Sinnoh to watch over the Lake Guardians just for a while."_

The red haired Champion let out a huge sigh, trying to show the Sinnoh Champion that he was annoyed. "I understand your concern over the legendaries, but is all this really necessary? After all, you're guarding the Lustrous Orb and your grandmother sent the Adamant Orb away to Hoenn. Plus, the Lake Guardians are very elusive, are they not? I'm sure they are capable of hiding themselves from anyone who wants to harm them. The more we try to interact with them, the more harm it'll do to them."

As if she was ignoring Lance's obvious irritation, Cynthia calmly replied. _"I realize this. However, it wouldn't hurt to be more cautious." _Before Lance could cut her off, she added in, _"You have no idea what will happen if Palkia and Dialga are to be released and if they were to be under the control of someone sinister." _

Lance sighed tiredly, wondering if she had bugged the Hoenn Champion, Steven, about this matter before him. He did understand why Cynthia would be acting so paranoid about this. No Champion would want their region to be overrun by anything they couldn't stop. By failing to protect the people, it would only shame them until death. He finally agreed rather unwillingly."Fine, I'll be at Sinnoh by tomorrow." With a press of a button, he hung up on her and shoved the small pokegear into the pocket of his pants, all the while grumbling under his breath.

* * *

"I'm telling you that the orb is perfectly fine."

_"You and your father better not be keeping it in a vault somewhere. That was hardly enough to stop Galactic from stealing the Lustrous Orb." _

"You did manage to stop them right?" Steven asked, using a hand lens to magnify the surface of a newly found dusk stone.

_"Of course." _

"Then that's settled." He replied, briefly looking up from the dusk stone to the pokegear that was just a few inches away lying on top of a stack of books pertaining to rocks and caves. "You said it yourself that Team Galactic needs both the orbs in order to raise the legendaries once more. If they manage to steal the Adamant Orb," Steven quickly added in, "which they won't", before Cynthia could say anything. "You'll be guarding the Lustrous Orb. They can't finish a puzzle with a missing piece, right?" He smiled when he heard her give out a sharp huff on the other line.

_"Just keep the Adamant Orb safe, Steven. Make sure your father understands this as well." _

"Of course."

_"When is he planning to come to Sinnoh to tell us about the new location of the orb?" _

"He told me to go in his place since he's away in Kanto for some business. I expect to be there by tomorrow to inform you and your grandmother."

_"Fine."_

Steven paused for a while from his studies. "You sound stressed Cynthia. Maybe you should take a breather before I get there tomorrow."

_"Hm." _She simply answered.

The silver haired man smiled at Cynthia's unwillingness. "And don't take what Team Galactic has told you seriously. I doubt anyone will ever be able to release both Palkia and Dialga and be able to carry that great power on their shoulders." 

_"You never know what they're capable of." _With that, the line went dead.

* * *

**A/N **_This was just a really random thing that I came up with. I felt like writing something that wasn't romance and so here this story is. I'm still trying to grasp Lance's character so if he seems OOC to you...blegh. I'll continue this if anyone wants me to. But for now, here's just the first chapter. _

_By the way, "Blue" (Aka Gary) won't be shown in this story as well. So right now it's only Lance, Cynthia, and Steven. There will be more characters, but they'll most likely be minor characters. _

_And if anyone knows how old Lance really is, please tell me. I'm putting him down as the same age as Steven, but something's telling me he's a bit older than that.  
_


	2. Disappearing Acuity

**A/N **_-insert witty comment here- _

_Enjoy the chapter._

_

* * *

_**Character List:**

_Cynthia - 21 years old  
Steven - 22 years old  
Lance - 22 years old_

_

* * *

_

**Of a Darkness Fortold**

**Chapter 2: ****Disappearing Acuity****  
**

_"You're too late! All you've done was waste your time!"_

"If I had known you were going to space out like that, I wouldn't have come you know."

"Huh?" Cynthia had snapped out of her daze and found herself to be talking to Lance. The red haired dragon trainer looked impatient as he tapped his foot repeatedly on the glossy wooden floors. "I'm sorry, what-"

"I _said_, which lake should I check first?" Lance asked. He watched as the blond haired Champion fumbled slightly with the rolled up map of Sinnoh. Her hands shook slightly as she unrolled the map on top of the wooden table. Lance noticed this, but decided not to say anything to her for he wanted to leave the house as soon as possible.

Cynthia placed her index finger on the map. "Celestic Town is here. The closest lake is Acuity." She traced an upward diagonal path from the town, towards the north. "The Lake Guardian there is called Uxie. Make sure there's no sign of anything abnormal there. After that, visit the other two lakes and make sure nothing has happened there as well."

"Got it." Lance replied as he stood up. Just as he left the house, a loud beeping sound went off. Cynthia reached into her pocket and pulled out her pokegear. On the small screen, she saw the name _'Steven'_, flashing.

"Yes?" She answered as she set the small gadget down on top of the map of Sinnoh.

_"Just calling to tell you that I'll be there in about an hour." _

"Okay."

_"You did take it easy right?" _he asked.

Cynthia didn't answer, instead she threatened to hang up if all he was going to engage in was small talk.

_"Sorry, sorry." _Steven apologized, laughing._ "I just don't want this whole issue to be getting to your head." _

"I'm not blowing it out of proportion if that's what you mean," she said in a defensive tone.

_"Of course not. You have a perfectly logical reason as to why you're worried"_

"Glad you understand," Cynthia muttered, glancing back and forth from the map to her pokegear. "So you'll be here in an hour then?"

_"That's the pla-" _He suddenly went silent.

"What happened? Steven?"

_"I might get there a little bit later than that," _he whispered.

"Why?"

_"...I think I'm about to meet some very interesting people." _The line went dead before the blonde could ask him what he meant.

* * *

Steven put away his pokegear and shot a glance back. Indeed it was them. There was no mistaking the huge, silver dirigible with a 'G' painted on the sides. The steel type trainer flashed a smirk. "Could they be anymore obvious?"

As if they had heard him, a flock of fearow flew out from the bottom compartment of the dirigible. Immediately they began making a beeline towards him. He told his Metagross to go faster and so the steel pokemon quickened its pace through the air. Steven looked back and saw that they were gaining distance away from the fearow and aircraft.

_"They must be after the location of the Adamant Orb,"_ he thought to himself. _"But...how could they have known I know where it is?" _

He snapped back to reality when he heard the loud flapping sounds of fearow flying around him. They flew in front of him and Metagross, preventing them from flying any further. "Damn it," he cursed under his breath as the dirigible closed in behind him. The huge aircraft slowly blocked out the sun and put him in the shadows of the huge envelope. The passenger cabin hovered near him and inside he saw members of Team Galactic.

"What's with this all of a sudden?" he asked. "I don't think I've done anything wrong."

"Cut the crap. You know exactly why we're here," snapped a man with blue hair. Steven assumed he was the leader in this operation for he wore a different attire and hairstyle from the others inside the cabin. The silver haired Champion narrowed his eyes. They were trying to intimidate him.

"If you're talking about the Adamant Orb, I don't know where it is."

"Really now?" said the man with blue hair. He grinned rather evilly. "Are you sure? Perhaps we should pay a visit to your old man and see if that will refresh your memory. You see, we have a small team stationed in Rustboro near your father's corporation. At my word, they could storm the office and take your father into our custody. We wouldn't want that, would we?"

Steven kept his hardened gaze on them. He had no way of warning his father at this moment without Team Galactic making their move first. If only he were anywhere near Hoenn...

_"They couldn't have possibly known I would be in Sinnoh unless..." _A realization struck him. _"Don't tell me...they've been listening in on our calls." _

"Oh? What's with that look, Mr. Champion?" the blue haired man said in a mocking tone. He laughed when Steven glared at him. "Have you finally realized how we knew you'd be here? Judging by that look, you've clearly underestimated our capabilities!"

Steven kept a straight face until he finally smirked, letting out a wry chuckle. "And it seems that you've underestimated me." He unclipped the pokeball holding his skarmory from the belt line of his dress pants. "Aerial Ace, Skarmory!" He called out as he threw the red and white pokeball. The steel bird screeched loudly as it appeared in a flash of light. Immediately it swooped around the dirigible and flew straight through the envelope. Two identical holes were made and instantly the loud sound of helium rushing out filled the surroundings. The large aircraft began to slowly sink down to earth.

"Shit..." the blue haired man cursed.

"Commander Saturn, we're losing altitude fast." One of the grunts informed.

"I can see that!" he yelled, irritated. Quickly he pushed the button down for the communications. "Alpha team, storm the corporation and take the chairman hos-" Before he could finish his sentence, the machines inside the gondola began to explode one by one. Saturn backed away from the communications machine just as it too exploded. He looked up through the windows and saw that the metagross was glowing a dark blue. "That son of a bitch used Psychic."

Steven watched as the dirigible hit the ground with a thundering crash. He turned around and saw the flock of fearow charging at him, aiming to use Drill Peck. "Skarmory! Steel Wing!" he yelled. In the nick of time, the steel bird swooped down and hit the fearows head on with its hardened wings. The flock fell to the ground, completely knocked out by the one, powerful attack.

"Good job," said Steven to his skarmory. The steel bird cooed softly before the silvery haired man zapped it back into its pokeball. He clipped the pokeball back around his waist and looked over the huge mess the dirigible made. Down below he saw the commander, crawling out from underneath the debris. "Let's go Metagross," Steven whispered. The steel pokemon groaned lowly as it turned and flew away from the site.

* * *

_Knock. Knock._

Cynthia rushed over to the door and opened it. "What took you so lo-?"

"I'm sorry to return for lunch so late," her grandmother replied curtly as she walked past Cynthia.

"Ah...sorry grandma. I thought you were Steven," said the blonde in an apologetic tone as she walked back to the table with the map unrolled on top.

"He still hasn't arrived yet?"

"No. He had contacted me earlier, but he hung up abruptly."

"How rude of him," her grandmother said as she walked over to the table Cynthia was sitting at. The old woman sat down on the chair and set down her small lunch on top of the map. "Your worries won't just disappear by staring at this map the whole day Cynthia."

"Grandma...I fear something happened to Steven," said Cynthia suddenly. "He may be a bit carefree, but he's not irresponsible. I think he might have run into Team Galactic on his way here."

"But what for? The only reason would be so that they could get information on the whereabouts of the Adamant Orb and they have no way of knowing that he knows the new location."

Before Cynthia could respond, someone knocked on the front door. She got up from her seat quickly and strode over to open the door. When she did so, she saw no one else other than Steven standing there, clean cut as always. "What took you so long?"

"What? Not even a "hello"?" Steven asked, smiling when he saw Cynthia glare at him. "I'll explain if you let me inside."

She stepped aside and let the silvery haired young man past. Once she closed the door behind him, she immediately asked him, "Why did you hang up so suddenly?" Impatiently she waited for his answer as he seemed to completely ignore her question.

"Hello Professor," he greeted.

Cynthia's grandmother simply let out a small 'hmph' and sipped her cup of coffee. "Have a seat," she said, pointing to the chair that was adjacent to to her. He thanked her as he sat down. All the while, Cynthia hovered around him anxiously.

"Answer me," she finally demanded in a stern tone.

Steven crossed his arms over his chest and muttered, "I had a little run-in with Team Galactic near Twinleaf."

"What!?" Cynthia exclaimed as she took a seat in her own seat.

"They wanted information on the whereabouts of the Adamant Orb from me."

"But how could they have possibly-?"

"They were listening in to our calls."

"Impossible..."

"It seems that we've been underestimating their capabilities. They're not your ordinary thieves. They were lying in wait near Twinleaf knowing I had to pass by there to get here. When I refused to tell them the location, they told me they had a small team stationed in Rustboro back in Hoenn that could take my father as a hostage. Perhaps they were bluffing, but considering on how they had nearly forced me into a corner there's no telling what else they're capable of." Steven sighed tiredly.

Cynthia clenched her fists. "We were too careless to talk over our pokegears. Because of that...they're going to be one step ahead of us." Suddenly, Cynthia's face contorted into that of frightened realization. "I had told Lance over our pokegears that he should check all of the lakes in Sinnoh for the Lake Guardians."

"But that shouldn't be too much of a problem, right? There's three lakes in Sinnoh and they're all pretty far from each other. You didn't tell him over the pokegears to check a specific lake right?" Steven asked.

"No, I told that to him in person. He left a while ago to check Lake Acuity for Uxie. He should be there by now."

Right on cue, Cynthia's pokegear beeped loudly. She saw that it was Lance and immediately picked up. "Is everything alright?"

_"Far from it..."_

"What?"

_"...That lake..." _

"What about the lake?"

Lance held his dark red pokegear in his hands tightly. His expression read that of shock. "The lake," he answered again, "it's gone..."

* * *

**A/N **_Ick. Sorry it's a short chapter. I would have made it longer, but I figured that I should leave off from there. Cliffhangers are awesome, are they not?_

_Reviews are always welcome.  
_


	3. The Fallen Champions

**A/N **_I will be one very sad writer when FMA: Brotherhood ends. _

_Enjoy the chapter._

_

* * *

_

**Of a Darkness Fortold**

**Chapter 3: The Fallen Champions  
**

_"You're lying."_ Cynthia's voice sounded uneven over the pokegear. Lance tightly clenched his fist and looked out at the dried up lake. There were still small puddles of water on the muddy lakebed, where dozens of magikarp flopped around helplessly. The dragon trainer grew angered by this sight.

"Unforgivable," he whispered out spitefully. "Where are they?"

_"Who?"_

"Those Team Galactic scum! Where are they!"

_"Lance...calm down,"_ Steven said in a gentle tone.

"How can I calm down when they're harming these pokemon! Cynthia! Where are they! I know you know!"

_"Listen to Steven, Lance!" _Cynthia shouted. _"Getting angered like this will only lead to irrational decisions! Come back to Celestic Town first." _

Very unwillingly, Lance agreed and hung up. He mounted his dragonite again and took one last look out on the lakebed. "Let's go," he whispered_._

_

* * *

_"The only reason that the lake would dry up is if Uxie was in distress._"_

"Then there's no doubt about it. Team Galactic must have gotten there before us."

Cynthia crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the chair. Her brow was furrowed in deep thought as she planned what to do next._ 'If we check the other two lakes now, we might have the chance of rescuing the other two Lake Guardians. However...if they're already gone...we'll only be wasting time. There's no doubt in my mind that Team Galactic wants the three spirits to help them gain control of Palkia and Dialga. If they have all three Lake Guardians...our only objective now is to go back to guard the orbs and make sure they don't get stolen.' _The blonde Champion cursed at herself for letting the situation escalate this much. _'They're even stationed in Sinnoh. They've been at this operation right under my nose.' _She wondered if that was what made her so frustrated about the situation.

"Steven, where did you and your father hide the Adamant Orb?" she suddenly asked the silver haired man.

"Huh?" he said, caught off guard by the question for a while. "We've hid it in an underwater cavern near Sootopolis."

"Underwater?" Cynthia questioned. "Anyone with a decent water pokemon can simply go down there and steal it if they wish."

"The cavern's in the deepest parts of the ocean. The only way to get to it is with the submarine my father's corporation had constructed."

She was still skeptical. "Even if you say that..._underwater_? Was that really the best place?"

"It was either that or a vault," Steven joked, much to Cynthia's annoyance. "It really is the safest place in Hoenn," he continued, "afterall, the cavern itself is difficult to find without proper navigational equipment," Steven reassured.

"Hmph, since you're so sure of yourself," the blonde muttered. She took one last glance at the map on top of the table and stood up from her seat. "I'm getting something to eat. Do you want anything?"

"I'm fine," Steven answered. He watched as Cynthia went over to the small refrigerator in the kitchen. Quietly he stood up from his seat and went over to the white tiled counter that separated the small meeting area and the kitchen. On top of the counter he saw numerous documents and skeletal sketches of various pokemon. "Are these your grandmother's research papers?" he asked as he flipped through a small notebook.

Cynthia turned around from the fridge. "Hey! Don't touch that!" She promptly ran over and leaned over the tiled counter to snatch the gray, leather bound notebook from Steven's hands. "Jeez," she said, sighing as she put the notebook back down. "Grandma gets angry whenever anyone touches her research."

"Sorry," he replied in an apologetic tone. "But she's researching some interesting things."

"I'm usually interested in what she's researching, but as of right now she's studying evolution stones," she shot a glance at Steven, "of course it's something you'd be interested in," she said, knowing fully well that the silver haired Champion was very intrigued by such things. Cynthia let out a sigh before taking a drink of the glass of milk she had poured for herself. "I hope she'll return to researching the ancient ruins soon."

Just then, Cynthia saw Lance and his dragonite through the front window of the house. "It's Lance," she said as she set down the empty glass cup on the tiled kitchen counter. The blonde strode towards the front door, Steven following closely behind her.

The red haired Champion dismounted his dragonite just as both Cynthia and Steven came to his side. Lance narrowed his eyes in a disgruntled manner at the sight of Cynthia. "What do you propose we do now?" he asked immediately. "Obviously we were too late to protect Uxie and I'm sure that Team Galactic already set their sights on both Azelf and Mesprit. Hell, if they've been planning this for a long time like you've said yourself Cynthia, they might already have both Azelf and Mesprit."

Cynthia furrowed her brow and bit her bottom lip in frustration. It troubled her deeply that Team Galactic had been conducting such a grand scheme right in front of her this whole time. The whole thing began to give her a growing headache.

"Are you listening to me, Cynthia!" Lance suddenly yelled, he too in great frustration.

"Get a grip of yourself Lance," Steven ordered in a stern tone. "Getting angered amongst us won't help solve the current situation at all."

"They're harming innocent pokemon while they're satisfying their greed! You can't possibly be asking me to be calm about it!"

"I'm not asking you to be calm, I'm asking you to be rational!" Steven retorted. "What good will it do us if we simply go storming into their hideout blindly?"

At this Lance remained silent. He turned his head away and let out an angered sigh.

"I know you care deeply about the pokemon harmed, but we can't let Galactic harm the Lake Guardians as well. If we go confort them without a solid plan, Team Galactic won't hesitate to harm them."

"Well then...what do you propose we do now? We can't simply sit around and do nothing," Lance responded. He switched his attention over to Cynthia, who had remained silent for the whole time. "Any ideas? You're the one that called us out here after all."

Cynthia finally raised her head. "It may be too late to save the Lake Guardians, but we can still prevent Team Galactic from controlling Palkia and Dialga." She faced Steven. "We mustn't let them get the Adamant Orb and Lustrous Orb. Head back to Hoenn and tell me if there's anything suspicious happening there."

"Of course," Steven answered with a smile.

"Lance, go check the other two lakes. With any luck, at least one of the Guardians will still be at its lake."

"But you said-"

"I know what I said," Cynthia cut in, "but at this point there's nothing else for us to do other than this."

* * *

A woman, fairly short in stature and with flaming red hair, walked through the dimly lit caverns of Mount Coronet. She strode in with an air of confident and pride all the way until she reached the huge room where a variety of odd machines were. Up ahead she saw a platform where three glass capsules were mounted on. Two of the capsules had figures inside of them. A dull energy swirled around those unmoving figures.

A man stood before them, looking up at them intently as if he were studying them. His spiked blue hair seemed to glow vibrantly, illuminated by the light produced by the two mounted capsules with figures inside of them. The red haired woman stood behind him. Finally he spoke, not facing her.

"What news do you bring for me, Mars?" his voice was low and slightly gravelly.

The red haired woman smirked. "We have secured the third Lake Guardian, Azelf."

"Good."

"But sir...I was wondering if we could perhaps, leave it there for a while."

"Hm?"

"We've learned that both the Champions of Hoenn and the Indigo Plateau have both arrived here in Sinnoh to help Cynthia. From their telephone conversations, we've also learned that she has asked Lance to check up on all of the lakes."

He sighed inwardly. "That is a problem now then, isn't it?" he asked, still not facing her.

Mars' thin lips curled up into a devious smile. "Shall we leave an ambush open for the dragon tamer at Lake Valor? It will surely catch him off guard and if we manage to do a number on him, we might be able to scare the Champion of Hoenn off."

The blue haired man remained silent. Finally he spoke, "just bring me Azelf."

Mars nodded. She stepped back and bowed just slightly before turning around to leave. Just as she left the room, a grunt ran up to her. "Did Cyrus give it an 'okay'?"

"Of course," Mars chuckled. "Alert Jupiter of the change in plans. Tell her to be expecting the arrival of a certain dragon tamer..."

* * *

"There isn't anything suspicious going on over there, right?"

Steven listened to his father talking over the pokegear. _"I've sent one my secretaries to check up on the submarine. He got back to me and said that there was no such activity reported." _

"I see." Steven paused, trying to be as cautious as possible. He knew he couldn't divulge much information to his father about Team Galactic's plans for fear that he might accidentally let the location of the Adamant Orb slip out. He was suspicious that they were still tapping into their phone calls. "Stay safe," he finally said in a soft whisper.

_"Steven?"_ his father asked, taken aback by the sudden change in tone from his son.

"I'll be there in a few hours. Just take care of yourself until then." With that, the silver haired man hung up. He gave a soft sigh, of which Metagross noticed. It growled lowly as it sped through the deep valleys surrounding Mount Coronet. Steven laughed lightheartedly and placed his hand on top of Metagross. "It seems that we're headed for a bit of trouble now, aren't we?"

Then, as if by sheer coincidence, a strong force of energy slammed into Metagross. It wobbled slightly by the sudden harsh impact, however it maintained it's course.

"What the-?" Steven turned his head and saw a bronzong, as well as a golbat flying towards him. "We have company," he murmured. Metagross turned around to face the adversaries. "Metagross, use Psychic!" Steven yelled out.

The huge steel pokemon began to glow a faint blue. The golbat and the bronzong were both stopped right in their tracks. They both seemed a bit taken aback by their inability to move anymore.

"Hmph, so you're the Hoenn Champion? Steven, is it? You don't look so tough. I wonder why Saturn had lost to you," a smug, female voice said.

Steven looked down and spotted her standing on a small ledge jutting out from the side of the mountain. Her stature was short, but her bright red hair and fiery red eyes made her seem fierce. He glared back down at her. "It was pretty gutsy of you to attempt a sneak attack against me."

She laughed. "Gutsy? Not a word I would have liked to use to describe myself. Anyways, I thank you for coming all this way. It saves me a whole bunch of trouble of going through to track you down," she said, a malicious grin painted across her face.

"Tracking me down? It seems I'm well liked by you Galactic scum," Steven said, smirking.

"Don't flatter yourself. With you out of the way along with Cynthia and Lance, Cyrus' plans will go through without a hitch. So don't mind little ol' me, I'm just here to stop you! Bronzong, use Confuse Ray!" she ordered. The bell shaped pokemon broke free of Metagross' psychic hold and emitted a dark purple aura.

Almost immediately, Metagross began to slowly descend down, affected by its confusion. Steven also felt the effect of the move on himself. He knelt down, groaning as he held his head with his right hand. "Shit," he cursed silently. Metagross finally made contact with the ground. It crashed down, its four arms sprawled around messily. It growled softly as its red eyes looked dazed. The steel type trainer managed to get off Metagross and stand beside it. He kept a hand on the huge pokemon in order to support himself up. He looked down at the ground and felt as if he were spinning rapidly. Vaguely, he heard footsteps gathering around him. Steven looked up and saw the distorted images of Galactic grunts surrounding him and Metagross. He stumbled slightly, but kept to his feet.

"Metagross," he whispered lowly. "Earth...quake."

The steel pokemon attempted to get up, but it fell back down on the ground with a thundering crash. Steven continued to hold his head as he saw the distorted images and hear the garbled sound of their voices. Finally he collapsed beside Metagross. He heard the faint voice of the red haired woman from far away, ordering the grunts to take him as a prisoner.

* * *

"It seems quiet here, doesn't it Dragonite?"

Lance smiled when the orange dragon trilled sharply. He sighed and looked out at the clear lake. The waters seemed calm and pristine as it reflected the sky and the surrounding scenery beautifully. It's flawless, glass-like surface showed Lance his reflection when he looked into it.

"Well then, I guess we'll have to go check the other lake. Let's go Dragonite."

Just as Lance placed his hand on the dragon's neck, it snapped its head into the direction of the small cavern in the middle of the lake.

"What's the matter?"

It trilled lowly. Lance looked out and saw a dark pink haired woman coming out from the cavern. She was dressed in a ridiculous silver, form-fitting outfit that made Lance almost unable to take her seriously. "Who are you?" he asked, raising his guard regardless.

The magenta colored hair woman let out a sharp laugh. "Smart little dragon you have there, don't you Mr. Champion?" she said in a mocking tone.

Lance grit his teeth. "Answer me!"

"Oh, a little feisty aren't we?" she purred. She gave her ruby red lips a quick run over with her tongue. "I like that." She took out a pokeball and threw it. "Go get 'em, Golbat!" In a flash of light, the bat-like pokemon fluttered in front of her. "Air cutter!" she shouted. The golbat immediately flew towards Lance and Dragonite at full speed.

"Dragonite, Hyper Beam!"

The orange colored pokemon opened up its mouth and in it, a surge of energy began to form. Just as the golbat was directly in front of it, Dragonite released the beam from its mouth. The yellow-orange colored beam hit golbat and created a huge blast. Lance shielded himself by covering his head with his arm. Once most of the smoke cleared up, the red haired champion looked to see the outcome. His eyes widened in shock when he saw that a bronzong now stood before the golbat. It had created a glassy clear shield, protecting both pokemon from the Hyper Beam.

Lance narrowed his eyes at the dark pink haired woman, who was now cackling. "What's the matter? You seem surprised. You should know by now that people like us don't play by the rules." She grinned evilly. "Now then...Golbat, use Sludge Bomb, then Bronzong, follow up with a Gyro Ball!"

"Dragonite, dodge and use Fire Blast!"

The golbat flew up high and shot a slimy black ball of sludge at Dragonite. The swift dragon managed to dodge it and shoot a brilliant display of fire from its mouth. It aimed directly at Bronzong. The fire made contact with the hard steel pokemon. It chimed lowly as it fell to the ground, smoldering hot from the fire.

"Bronzong, get up!" the woman ordered in a sharp tone.

"Why don't you save your pokemon and yourself the trouble and leave?"

The dark pink haired woman glared at him hatefully. She finally let out a light scoff and smirked, "Getting a bit cocky just because you defeated one of my pokemon, aren't you?" She reached for another pokeball that was clipped onto her waist. Her tongue flicked out and it ran over her lips quickly. "Go, Skuntank!"

"Not backing down, huh?" Lance asked.

"Hmph, why would I back down when I have a clear advantage!" she yelled, a sly grin plastered on her face.

"What?" Before Lance could react, two grunts had come up behind him and grabbed both of his arms. He struggled against them, silently cursing at himself. When he heard the maniacal laughter of the pink haired woman, he looked up at her with distaste. "So, because you couldn't beat me you resort to these sort of tactics?" Lance asked through his tightly clenched teeth.

"This was the plan all along! We already have the Guardian for this lake," she told him. "In fact, we already have all three of the Lake Guardians! You had better tell your other little "champion" friends to watch their backs. We'll do whatever it takes to summon both Palkia and Dialga!"

Dragonite flew a bit closer to the ground, wary of the grunts that had a strong hold on Lance. The red haired champion saw this and yelled, "go! Fly away, Dragonite!"

The orange dragon trilled softly, showing concern for its trainer. When Lance narrowed his red eyes at it, Dragonite knew that he was being serious. It trilled again and turned around. In a split second, it beat its wings hard against its back and flew away.

"Commander Jupiter," a grunt addressed the dark pink haired woman from behind.

The woman raised her hand in a slight gesture. "Leave it. We'll only be wasting our energy." She turned back to the two grunts that were restraining Lance. Then, with a slight nod of her head, Lance felt a strong blow to the base of his skull and his world instantly went black.

* * *

**A/N **_Apologies for any grammar mistakes or inconsistency in plot. I wrote this chapter over a period of three weeks and I just wrote it on and off in between my school work. Luckily, my last day of school was yesterday so that means more time to write. -happy happy-_

_I will try to update sooner this time. Maybe in the next week. _

_Once again, review. It tells me how often I should update this story compared to my other ones.  
_


	4. Taken

**A/N **_Blegh, I'm so obsessed with Dante from Devil May Cry now. His pizza and strawberry sundae food obsessions are just so damned adorable._

_And I've decided to add in some OCs into this story. More information about it will be at the end of this chapter._

_Also, there's some parts regarding "torture" in this chapter, just forewarning you readers.  
_

_

* * *

_

**Of a Darkness Fortold**

**Chapter 4: Taken  
**

It was cold and dark inside the tiny cell. The musty scent of rocks and dirt hung around heavily**.**

"He's still not talking?"

"No, ma'am."

Steven vaguely heard the two voices belonging to the two Galactic grunts that had interrogated him, talk with the female commander he had battled against a while ago. He hung his head low and listened only to his shallow breathing. The two grunts had questioned him on the whereabouts of the Adamant Orb. When he had refused to talk, he received an injury of some sort. By now, he had a bruised cheek, a cut lip, a few broken ribs, and blood that ran down his face from the deep abrasions he had underneath his silvery bangs. He coughed weakly and spat out a bit of blood to the side. The chains around his wrists dug into his skin painfully and his arms felt numb from being held up for some long. He weakly dropped his head and the chains above him clanked together.

He wondered what had become of his pokemon. He knew they were no longer in his possession when he had awoken from unconsciousness. It troubled him knowing that Team Galactic had his pokemon and they could be doing whatever it is they want with them.

When the cell door closed with a loud screech, he had thought everyone had left and he was the only one inside the tiny cell. However, he was proven wrong when he heard the light clacking of footsteps on the hard ground.

"So, why don't you tell me where the Adamant Orb is?" He recognized it to be the voice of the red haired woman that had put him here in the first place.

Steven remained silent as he kept his head down. When the female commander brought his head up by the chin rather roughly, he grunted at the pain that shot through his body. He winced when she purposely touched a bruise that was just forming on his left cheek.

The female commander smiled coldly. "It hurts doesn't it?"

Steven simply glared back at her.

She laughed softly. "You have surprised me. I didn't think you would last this long through our little interrogation without telling us anything." Her lips turned up into an evil little grin. She brought out a small knife from her pocket and held the sharp edges against Steven's bruised up cheek. "And you still won't talk?" Mars laughed softly in amusement. She flipped the knife over and dragged the blunt edges down from his cheek to his neck. Steven turned his head away from the cool metal of the blade. She stopped the knife when it hit the first button holding his dress shirt closed.

Steven flinched slightly when she cut the thread. The small white button fell off and landed on the ground. It was soon followed by four more buttons. Afterwards, he heard her clicking her tongue softly.

"You must be really foolish to not talk after they did all this to you," she said, looking over the dark red bruises dotting his chest and what little bit of his exposed abdomen.

"Foolish?" he muttered. He chuckled quietly. "I expected 'stubborn'."

"Hm, you're in no position to be smart mouthing me."

"Is that so?" Steven whispered lowly, flashing a smirk at her. "You're in no position to use that against me." He looked down at the glistening blade of the knife she held.

"What?" she questioned, irritation showing in her tone.

"You need me alive to know the location of the Adamant Orb. I'm the only one that knows where it is," he lied.

"Who said I'll use this to kill you?" Mars asked, smiling maliciously. She gave a swift slash running diagonally from Steven's left shoulder down to his right side. He let out a pained yell as he felt blood slowly drip out from his deep wound. Mars laughed darkly and leant down close near him, putting her red lips right next to his ear. "See? You're still alive," she whispered, chuckling. "I'm pretty sure someone else other than you would know the location of the Adamant Orb." Mars held the knife up to Steven's pale neck and pressed it down hard enough just so that beads of ruby red blood began to form around the knife. "Now then, tell me the location."

When Steven didn't answer, she removed the knife and hit him across the face. He grunted at the impact and he kept his face turned away from her.

"Well?" she asked, expecting a decent answer now that he was beaten and injured to a certain extent.

The silver haired man chuckled lowly as he spat out a bit of blood. He looked up at her through his disheveled bangs and said in a harsh breath, "go to Hell."

* * *

Cynthia blew lightly into her hot tea. She looked outside and saw that the sun had nearly gone down and had painted the sky in a vibrant hue of pink. She had lost herself while staring out the window into the distant horizon that she didn't notice her pokegear ringing sharply.

"Cynthia," her grandmother said. When that didn't grab her granddaughter's attention, she sighed and got up from her seat, putting a pause to her research. She took the pokegear that was on the kitchen counter, still ringing, and brought it to the blonde. "Cynthia."

"Huh?" she seemed a bit startled by her grandmother's voice.

"Someone's calling."

"O-Oh." Cynthia took the pokegear and pressed a button. "Hello?"

_"I'm sorry to bother you this late Miss Cynthia." _

Immediately, she recognized it to be the voice of Mr. Stone. "Ah, no it's fine. May I ask why you've called?"

He hesitated for a moment before asking, _"by any chance, is Steven with you?" _

"No, he left a few hours ago. He should be there by now," she stated quizzically. Cynthia heard Mr. Stone sighed softly on the other side of the line. "I'm sure Steven is fine," she reassured, hoping it would calm the nerves on the middle aged man.

_"I will wait until tomorrow morning then," _he finally replied._ "May I contact you then if he still hasn't returned?"  
_

"Of course. Anytime is fine." Cynthia nodded. "Yes, goodnight." When he hung up, the blonde pushed a small button on her pokegear and let out a tired sigh. Her grandmother was back sitting at her desk, going over her research notes.

"What happened?" the old woman asked, never looking up from her notes.

"Mr. Stone called. He said Steven hasn't returned to Hoenn yet," Cynthia crossed her arms over her chest. "He's probably just goofing around somewhere," she muttered to herself. "Come to think of it...Lance hasn't come back either."

Then, right on cue, she saw Lance's dragonite land just in front of the small house. Cynthia only caught a glimpse of it through the window before she ran out the door, but she thought she saw no sign of Lance at all. It was confirmed when she opened the front door and indeed, only saw the orange dragon meekly standing just a few feet away from her.

"Dragonite, what happened? Where's Lance?" she asked, even though she knew that it couldn't communicate with her. It trilled and let out a series of soft growls. Cynthia saw worry in its eyes. "Did something happen to him?"

The dragon nodded rather hurriedly. It cried out in a high pitched tone and pointed in the direction in which it had came from.

"Cynthia, what happened?" her grandmother asked, coming out from the small house. She went up to her granddaughter's side and glanced at the orange colored pokemon. "Isn't this Lance's dragonite?" she questioned. Cynthia nodded, patting the side of the dragonite's thick neck.

"I think something bad happened to Lance, maybe," her voice trailed off as she was suddenly struck with a horrifying idea. "Team Galactic," she whispered, turning to her grandmother. "Team Galactic! They must have done something to both Lance and Steven! That's why Dragonite is here and that's why Mr. Stone called me!" Cynthia shook her head and closed her eyes. "Did we underestimate them...?" she muttered under her breath.

"You couldn't have known they'd go to such lengths to stop you three. Don't blame yourself for any of this, Cynthia."

"But Lance...and Steven..."

"Will be fine," the elderly woman cut in sharply. "For now, we have to concentrate on making sure Team Galactic doesn't get a hold of the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs."

The blonde let out a sharp exhale. She turned towards the direction that Dragonite had pointed towards and then back at her grandmother. "Steven assured me that the Adamant Orb was safe in Hoenn, as for the Lustrous Orb..." Cynthia reached for one of the pokeballs strapped to her belt line. She unclipped one and handed it to her grandmother. "Spiritomb is inside. If Team Galactic were to come here, please defend yourself."

"Cynthia..."

"I'm sorry grandmother. I have to go find Lance." She unclipped another pokeball from her belt line. From her pokeball, came her garchomp. Cynthia mounted it and gave the little star on its head a little pat. She turned back to her grandmother and said, "if Steven comes back, tell me."

The old woman sighed and slipped the tiny pokeball into the pocket of her lab coat. She gave a warm smile and said in a reassuring tone, "do what you have to do, Cynthia. You were always wise with your decisions and you've never once let me down."

Cynthia returned the smile and closed her steely gray eyes. She faced Dragonite and said, "show us where Lance was."

The orange dragon meekly nodded and kicked off the ground. Cynthia gave Garchomp a little rub on the side of its neck and muttered, "let's go."

* * *

_'Damn it...damn it...'_

Lance blankly stared at the tufts of grass that tickled his eyelid every time he blinked. Spots of light danced around the green blades. He had a dull ache on the back of his neck as he told himself to get up. However, his body didn't listen to him. He could only make his fingers twitch as he struggled to get back up on his feet. The thought he could have been paralyzed because of the blow to his neck, but he refused to believe such an outcome. He grunted as he strained to push himself up with his arms. The red haired champion only managed to push himself up a couple of inches before he went crashing back down to the grassy ground.

Just as he tried to get back up again, he heard an ever so familiar low growl from above. He tried to crane his head around to see, but found he could not. Instead he lay there until the light thumping sound of something landing beside him was heard.

"Lance!" It was Cynthia's voice.

He heard her quickly walking around him before she knelt down in front of him. "Lance! What happened?" she asked, her voice sounding as if it was deep with concern. She gently turned him over onto his back and helped him to sit up.

"I was battling a Team Galactic member and these grunts just came up behind me and grabbed me. Next thing I knew, everything...went black." He groaned as he held his head. "Crap, I can't remember anything else," he whispered.

"It's okay," Cynthia comforted. "Do you think you could walk?"

"Not really," Lance admitted. "I still can't move my arms and legs. That Team Galactic...they're always one step ahead of us. The woman I battled...she was expecting me to come here."

"Did she tell you that?"

"No, she didn't. But, everything did looked as if it were all staged."

Cynthia helped Lance up and guided him slowly over to Dragonite. It showed concern for its trainer as they came over.

"I'm fine," Lance said with a soft smile; his voice sounded a bit hoarse. The orange dragon smiled back as its wings beat lightly against its back.

"Do you think you could ride Dragonite back to Celestic Town by yourself?"

"I'll manage," he replied as she helped him onto the dragon's back. As he got himself settled, he asked her, "where are you going?"

"I need to find Steven. His father called me an hour ago and told me that he isn't back in Hoenn yet."

Lance simply nodded. "Let's just hope he didn't have a run in with Team Galactic like I did." He turned his head slightly to look at the dimming sky. It was nearly night time. "Be back before it gets too late," he told her. Cynthia scoffed lightly in response. She hopped on Garchomp and faced him.

"Showing some concern for me now?"

"Hmph, they might be after you next," he replied with a little smile.

The blonde clicked her tongue softly and gave him just a slight wave of her hand. "Get there safely. Come on Garchomp."

The blue dragon kicked off the ground and was immediately airborne. Cynthia felt the cool night air against her face as Garchomp sped through the air. She wasn't quite sure where to go in the first place. In fact, she wasn't quite sure what she had to look for. A sign that Steven had gone missing? That he somehow got into a horrific accident on his way back to Hoenn? That he was just running late?

Cynthia sighed and held her head. "Let's go towards Mount Coronet and circle it once, Garchomp. Perhaps he got lost in its deep valleys." As dragon growled in response, Cynthia wondered if she would even find him there. She pulled out her pokegear from her pocket and pressed a few buttons to call him.

_'Maybe he would pick up,' _she thought to herself as the line rang. She knew that Team Galactic would still be listening in on their calls, just to look for that one little slip on any confidential information concerning Palkia and Dialga. Even though she tried not to use the pokegear too much, she couldn't help but resort to this method at the moment. The line kept ringing. Finally someone picked up.

_"Hello?"_ she heard Steven say. A bit of relief sparked inside of her.

"Steven? Where are you? Your father's worried that you haven't returned to Hoenn already._" _There was a period of silence. "Steven?" Cynthia asked again, wondering if he had already hung up.

_"...I'm fine. I'm near Hoenn now." _

"You sound a bit...hoarse, Steven. Are you really okay?"

_"Cynthia...Mount Coronet, that's where Team Galactic's going to summon Palkia and Dialga. Hurry or else-" _

The line was quickly cut off after that. Cynthia immediate had the look of panic on her face as she shouted into her pokegear, "Steven! Steven! Answer me!" When she heard the indefinite beeping sound of the disconnected line, she turned off her pokegear and let out a sharp exhale. "Team Galactic...Garchomp! Quickly go to Mount Coronet!"

* * *

"So...your little champion friends haven't called yet? Pity," Mars giggled as she stood in front of Steven. She looked down at him with her piercing red eyes and said, "they must not really care about you if they haven't even tried to call you yet."

Steven chuckled, "they wouldn't call me. I've already told them that you've all been listening in to our conversations. They try not to use it."

"Aren't you a clever one?" she sneered, pulling on the chain that held up his right arm. Steven grunted at the burning pain created by the chains digging into his wrist. Just then, Steven heard his pokegear ringing from across the cell. Mar whipped around and went over to the device. She picked it up and laughed darkly. "Well what do you know, it's Cynthia."

Steven clenched his fists as she coolly walked over to him. "Talk to her, "she ordered. "You had better make it sound like you're on your way to see your daddy dearest."

"And if I don't? Quite frankly, I don't care what the hell you want to do to me."

Mars smirked. "It seems that you've forgotten that we have your precious little pokemon. Right now we have them all safe in their pokeballs, but that can change very quickly." She chuckled when she saw him glare at her. "Now then...talk." She pressed a button on his pokegear and immediately he heard sounds of the wind blowing past the speakers.

"Hello?" he asked.

_"Steven? Where are you? Your father's worried that you haven't returned to Hoenn already."_

The silver haired man glanced up at Mars, who mouthed to him, "you had better not try anything funny."

_"Steven?"_

"...I'm fine. I'm near Hoenn now," he whispered through gritted teeth.

_"You sound a bit...hoarse, Steven. Are you really okay?" _She sounded concerned.

Steven turned away from the pokegear held in front of his face. He narrowed his eyes at the dirt ground as he quickly thought of what to do. He knew he had to do whatever he could to prevent Team Galactic from summoning Palkia and Dialga. "Cynthia," he finally murmured. Steven raised his head and looked up directly into Mars' fierce red eyes. "Mount Coronet, that's where Team Galactic's going to summon Palkia and Dialga. Hurry or else-"

The red head quickly pulled the pokegear away and threw it on the ground. She stepped on it and it broke into pieces. She scoffed as she slapped him across the face. "Hmph, you did good. But you got a little disobedient at the end there, didn't you?" She sneered when his bruised cheek was turning red again.

The cell door behind her opened up and a grunt came in, carrying a tray with a single glass of water. She nodded her head slightly, acknowledging her as the grunt brought the glass of water to Steven. The young female grunt knelt down before him and immediately brought the glass to his lips and tilted it back, holding his jaw. At first he refused to drink it and simply let it overflow and run down the corners of his mouth, but before the water was all gone, he lost to temptation as he took gulps of the remaining water.

When the grunt pulled away and exited the cell, Mars stepped forward. She watched him as he coughed and breathed heavily.

"What was that?" he asked, panting. He was suspicious that they slipped something into the water.

"We didn't put anything in there if that's what you're wondering. It was just water. It's only to keep you alive until Cyrus manages to summon the two legendaries. It'd be a real burden if you went and died from thirst in our own hideout."

"Hm, thanks for the hospitality," he replied in a sarcastic tone.

"You're welcome," she answered in a smug tone as she left the cell.

* * *

_'Good, it looks like I could move my arms and legs again.'_

Lance rotated his shoulder a bit to get rid of the stiffness. He looked down at Celestic Town and watched as it grew closer. Dragonite growled softly as it landed on the soft grass. Only a few lights were on in the sleepy town, making the surroundings seem very dim. As he got off of Dragonite, the door to the house opened up.

"Lance," he heard Cynthia's grandmother call out to him.

"Professor," he addressed her as she walked up to him.

"I see that you're alright. That's good. Where is Cynthia?" she asked.

"She went to go find Steven. Apparently he hasn't arrived back in Hoenn yet."

"Hm," the professor contemplated. "We should expect the worst..."

"What?"

"I only know that Team Galactic will not hesitate to resort to violence if it means getting what they want. I'm not saying they have Steven, but if they do...they're probably going to try to get the location of the Adamant Orb from him."

The red haired man sighed heavily and looked out into the distant. He saw the dark silhouette of Mount Coronet. "To think they got this far..." Lance brushed his hand against his waist and immediately froze. Professor Carolina took note of this and asked him, "what's the matter?"

Lance felt around again and finally clenched his fist. "They couldn't have..."

"Lance."

"I don't believe it." He faced the old woman with his red eyes, widened in disbelief. "They took my pokemon."

* * *

**A/N **_I know there's probably a billion grammatical errors in there. I'll probably catch some when I read it back again. _

_Anyways, I need maybe...three OCs. I'll probably make up one, but if anyone could give me permission to use one of their OCs I'd be more than happy to put them in this story. Please don't give me Mary Sues/Gary Stus and don't feel offended if I end up not using your OC. They will only be "secondary" characters. Meaning they won't be given a huge role, but they'll pop up ever now and then. So if you're interested, just review back with a quick run down of your OC. Just give me basic information like, name, age, physical description, personality, etc. _

_And by letting me use your OCs, you must also be aware that since they aren't my characters I might make a mistake regarding how they would react to this or that._

_Once again, review. More reviews mean more updates.  
_


	5. The Promise

**A/N **_I'm confused now. Are Tate and Liza both girls or is Tate the guy and Liza is the girl? I'm asking this because I've always thought the latter, but while I'm reading the Pokemon manga, people are referring to them as both girls. Urgh._

_Anyways, I'm still uncertain if I'll need OCs at this point. But, thank you to those that offered me the chance to use your OCs. If I do end up needing some, I hope you guys won't mind if I simply borrow their names. I'm horrible at coming up with some decent names.  
_

_

* * *

_

**Of a Darkness Fortold**

**Chapter 5: The Promise  
**

"Do you sense anything, Garchomp?"

The blue dragon growled lowly as it walked beside Cynthia. She let out a desolate sigh as she scanned the high mountain side of Mount Coronet. It has been hours since she began her search around the mountain. A few of those hours had been in the air and the hours she was now spending, was on the ground.

"Steven said Mount Coronet but," Cynthia looked around, "there's no sign of anything here except for wild pokemon." She looked up at the sky and saw that it was beginning to lighten up with the sun's first rays of light. "Its already morning," she muttered, tucking a lock of blond hair behind her ear. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her black pokegear. The time display flashed 5:13 AM. "What should we do now Garchomp? We've been searching for nearly four hours. There's no sign anywhere that Team Galactic is here."

Then as if on cue, Garchomp turned its head up towards the side of the huge mountain. It growled lowly as Cynthia heard a distant rumbling sound. She and the blue dragon pokemon ducked behind a few boulders. Cynthia quietly peeked out and saw a small section of the mountain slide open. She saw a few grunts and a red haired woman come out from the entrance. Try as she may, Cynthia couldn't hear a word they were saying. All she saw were the gestures that the red haired woman made towards the grunts. She pointed off towards the opposite direction and yelled something to them. The grunts nodded simultaneously and ran off into that direct. The woman smiled smugly and walked back inside the mountain. The heavy slab of stone rumbled back closed, sealing off the entrance.

"That's our way in, Garchomp," Cynthia whispered, turning to her pokemon. "Do you think you could break through?"

The blue dragon bowed its head slightly.

"Good," she whispered, smiling.

* * *

"I've been too careless."

"You were unconscious."

Lance sighed heavily and paced around the small living room. Professor Carolina simply sipped her cup of tea and quietly looked over her research notes.

"It doesn't matter that I was unconscious. I was careless from the beginning!"

The old woman exhaled softly and set down her hot tea. She adjusted the glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. "I will never understand why men cannot face their own failures and move on." Lance shot her a glare as the professor thumbed through a small leather bound book.

"Professor, do you know where Team Galactic resides?" Lance asked. Despite the question given to her, Carolina simply ignored him as she jotted down notes onto various pieces of paper. "You must have some idea," Lance pressed on. "Cynthia's probably there already...Mount Coronet," the red haired champion turned to the elderly woman, "isn't that right, Professor?"

Carolina sighed and looked up at him. "Mount Coronet, hm?"

"Cynthia's there to look for Steven. He's apparently missing."

"So let her get him back. There is no need for you to go there as well. You'll only be a hindrance."

"The only reason I want to go there is to retrieve my pokemon and perhaps put an end to their plans! Why aren't we doing anything yet! We're just letting them do as they please until it'll be too late for everyone!"

"You have your dragonite. That should be quite enough for you. And as we have said before, Team Galactic will not be doing anything if they can't get the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs."

* * *

The deep caverns inside Mount Coronet seemed to twist and turn as they pleased. Cynthia ran through the dimly lit corridors, making sure she wasn't being seen.

Her garchomp had broken through the stone door with a few Brick Breaks. After that, the door crumbled down as if it were made out of nothing.

Cynthia stopped and pressed her back against the stone wall of a cavern. She took the time to catch her breath. _'It's only a matter of time before someone finds out about that broken stone entrance,'_ she thought to herself. Cynthia let her gray eyes look up at the stone ceiling. With a huff of breath, she pushed herself off the wall and went through the endless caverns again. After what seemed like hours of running, she stopped when she arrived at a fairly larger corridor with iron doors in each side. Each door had a small opening with a few bars closing it off. She slowly walked down the cavern, quietly looking through each opening to see inside.

Suddenly, she stopped when she looked inside one of the cells and saw a flash of silvery hair. It was dark inside the cell, but she went up to the iron door and called out Steven's name. She felt relief sweep through her body when she faintly saw him through the darkness as he raised his head just slightly.

Cynthia breathed heavily as she stepped back from the door. She unclipped the pokeball holding Garchomp from her belt and released it. The blue dragon emerged from the flash of light when the pokeball opened up.

"Garchomp, use Dragon Rush," she ordered it. The dragon glowed a faint blue color at first, then gradually began to collect a pulsating aqua colored energy around it. Garchomp let out a roar as it broke through the iron door. The door flew towards the opposite stone wall and crumpled up as if it were made out of tin foil.

The blonde ran inside and went over to Steven. "Steven, are you okay?" she asked hurriedly.

"Does it look like I'm okay?" he asked, his voice sounding gravelly. When she saw him smile slightly, she simply laughed lightly as she tried to get the chains off of his wrists. As she began to unwind the chains, he let out a soft grunt out of pain.

"Sorry," she whispered , going a little bit slower. When she saw the thin coating of blood on the metal chains, she cringed inwardly. "Why did they do this to you?"

"Something about not telling them the location of the Adamant Orb. Nothing much," he whispered softly with a chuckle as one of his hands were freed. He brought it to his face and saw that his wrists were bloodied and some parts were cut deeply by the chains.

"Idiot, you should have just told them," Cynthia said as she worked on the other chain.

"I thought I'd get yelled at by you and your grandmother."

"And that would be worse than what you just went through?"

Steven laughed weakly, "much worse."

Once both chains were off, Cynthia helped him up. She allowed him to put an arm around her shoulders as she supported him. "After we get out of here, you're going to go see the nurse at the Pokemon Center." She stopped and turned to her Garchomp that had been standing by the door. She took out the pokeball that held it and zapped it back in. "Thanks, Garchomp."

The silver haired man walked beside her and referred back to her previous statement, "you do know...that's for pokemon, right?"

"She'll be able to bandage you up at least to stop the bleeding. The hospital in Sunyshore is closed because of another blackout." Cynthia tightened the hold she had around Steven's waist, not so much that it caused him pain. "Does it hurt to walk?" she asked him, noticing his slight limp.

"A bit. They didn't do anything to my legs, but my insides hurt," he mustered up another weak smile as he held his sides. "How did you get in here anyways?"

Before Cynthia could respond, a blaring alarm went off. The corridors were suddenly enveloped in a dull red light. "That's how," she replied, hurrying her pace. "I sorta had to...break in a door. They probably noticed it now." She stopped and hid behind a corner with Steven as a team of grunts rushed past in the corridor ahead of them. "Sorry, we'll have to speed up."

"Wait," Steven stopped her. "Let me get my pokemon back."

"You don't have them?" Cynthia asked. She watched him nod and then she turned her attention back to the sirens. "We might not have time."

"Then will your garchomp be able to support both of us? From what I know, garchomps can't support heavy loads."

The blonde bit her bottom lip and asked him, "do you know where they are keeping them?"

Steven shook his head, much to her dismay. "We won't be able to get away far on foot anyways." He suddenly coughed and cringed in pain as he slumped to the ground.

"Steven!" She knelt down beside him as he fell to the ground. "Then you take Garchomp! I'll stay here!"

"How can I let that happen?" he asked lowly, panting. He looked up at her from the corner of his eyes and whispered, "I can't let you go through the same thing that they did to me." He sat up a little bit and removed his hand from his abdomen. The palm of his hand was covered in blood. Cynthia looked down at saw that the slash wound running across his chest had opened back up. She helped him back up again and hurriedly said, "we'll go find them then. Just hang in there."

The blaring siren and the flashing red lights was starting to give Cynthia a headache as they wandered around aimlessly through the corridors, trying their best to avoid any Galactic grunts. Just as they reached a large, empty caved out room, Cynthia heard footsteps behind them. She turned around and saw a few dozen grunts as well as the red haired woman she had seen earlier and a man with blue colored hair stand beside her.

"I knew it, you came here to save your little friend, Cynthia," the woman sneered as Cynthia turned around to face them. The woman turned her attention to Steven and clicked her tongue. "Tsk, you tried to run away from us? Even after we've made you so comfortable?"

Steven returned her smirk and said, "I guess I'm just a bad house guest, Mars."

"Hm, you never fail to amuse me." Mars looked at Saturn and smiled. "They're pretty far from the busted up entrance, aren't they Saturn?"

"It seems so," the blue haired man replied coolly. "Perhaps they're looking for their lost pokemon."

"Oh, you mean these?" Mars grinned evilly as a grunt came up beside her, holding six tiny pokeballs in their hand. She flicked one of them lightly. "Pretty little things, aren't they?"

Steven narrowed his eyes at them and stepped forward. "Quit joking with me," he whispered under his breath. His steely gray eyes seemed to glare daggers at Mars.

"I'm not joking," she said slyly as the grunts behind her went into the large room and surrounded Cynthia and Steven.

Saturn took out a pokeball and released it. "Go, Hypno!" The yellow human-like pokemon appeared in an instant. It tilted its head slightly at them, looking at them intently with it's dull eyes. Saturn smirked as Hypno's small pendulum began to swing back and forth. Before Cynthia could tell Steven to close his eyes, she was pulled away from him by two grunts. She struggled against them as she called out his name.

"Steven! Hey, Steven!"

When she saw him standing completely still, she knew it was too late. He was under the hypno's spell.

"I feel like playing with him for a while," Mars stated with an evil smile. She motioned towards the silver haired man. "Come here, Steven." Without hesitation, Steven walked over to her, limping just slightly. All the while, Cynthia tried to call out to him in hopes of getting him to snap out of the spell. Mars pulled out the small knife that was in her pocket and she handed it to him. Steven took the sharp knife in his hands. He stepped aside and Cynthia saw his gray eyes hazed over as he blankly stared into the distance.

Mars laughed darkly as she saw the concern written over Cynthia's face. "What? You think I'm going to make him kill you? Don't be silly. You're not that special, Miss Champion." The red haired woman turned her head to Steven and asked, "how about you stab yourself right here?" She placed her hand gently over his abdomen.

Cynthia yelled, "you have got to be joking me! He won't do that!"

"Really now?" Mars giggled. She turned back to Steven and leant up close to him and whispered into his ear, "do it."

"Steven, don't!" Just as those words left Cynthia's lips, she saw the small knife go into his side. She watched in horror as the white dress shirt around the wound was slowly being stained in crimson red blood. His expression changed to that of weary pain as he stumbled slightly away from them. "Steven!" she cried out.

He was slowly brought back to reality. His gray eyes were clearing up, but it was too late. He felt the warmth of his blood on his hands as he fell to the ground.

Mars laughed again and turned towards the grunt that held Steven's pokemon. "Hey, Miss Champion. Did you know that metagross are known for being ruthless predators?" She turned towards the blonde and smiled darkly, holding one of the pokeballs. "Did you know that, Saturn?"

"Of course."

Cynthia glared at them as Mars released Steven's metagross. The large steel pokemon appeared just a few feet away from where Steven lay. "It won't listen to you," Cynthia told them.

"Oh, that's where you're wrong. You see, our lead scientist Charon managed to build a device that allows us to control any pokemon we'd like. He's still testing it so that we could use it on Palkia and Dialga, but since it's still testing, we thought we should try it out on little Stevie's metagross first."

The blonde saw a small device planted on one of Metagross' heavy arms. It blinked a small red light. "What are you even planning to do with it right now?"

"Hm, like I asked, metagross are known for being brutal predators, no? They pin down their victims and they devour them with the mouth on their stomach. Quite gruesome if you ask me," she giggled lightly.

Cynthia had the look of realization on her face. "You can't be serious...you can't possibly..."

Mars grinned evilly and shouted, "Metagross! Go help yourself to your trainer. I'm sure he'll be quite filling." The huge steel pokemon slowly walked over to Steven, who was vaguely aware of all that was going on. He breathed shallowly as he tried to get up. He felt his hands tremble as he felt himself bleeding out slowly. Vaguely, he also heard Cynthia yelling at him, telling him to get up.

"You're sick! You're not even human! How can you tell a pokemon to kill it's own trainer?" Cynthia yelled at Mars. She glared when the red haired commander simply shrugged her shoulders. Cynthia turned her attention back towards Metagross and saw that it was above Steven now, lumbering over him. "Metagross! Stop!" she called out to it.

Steven felt his vision blur as the blood loss made his head spin. He brought his trembling hand up and placed it gently on one of Metagross' arms. He smiled and muttered, "sorry Metagross, for making you worry. I'm okay though..."

The steel pokemon remained silent for a while before growling lowly. At this, Steven smiled softly.

Mars clenched her teeth and shouted, "what are you doing? Kill him!" She and Saturn looked shocked when Steven got up slowly. "How? Why isn't Metagross listening to me?" Mars questioned to no one in particular.

Steven chuckled and placed his hand on the small device that was on Metagross' arm. "Don't you know that Metagross was my first pokemon? We share a special bond."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Saturn asked, gritting his teeth.

"Quite a bit actually," Steven smiled just slightly. He gently pulled off the beeping device off of Metagross. "But, what's more is that you need to tell your scientist to build some better machines." He let go the device and it fell to the ground with a small thump.

The grunts backed off slowly, fear striking them. The ones that held Cynthia also let go of her. Using this opportunity, Cynthia ran towards the grunt that held the rest of Steven's pokemon and hit him on the back of his neck. He fell forward, dropping all of the pokeballs. She picked them up and held them tightly as she released her garchomp once more.

Steven saw this and whispered under his breath, "Metagross...Earthquake."

The steel pokemon raised one of its heavy arms and slammed it down on the rocky ground. The earth beneath them shook uncontrollably. Both Mars and Saturn fought to keep their balance. Cynthia got on Garchomp and was soon airborne. Garchomp flew to Steven and Cynthia held out her hand. "Here!" she shouted amongst the rumbling sounds of the mountain. He took her hand and she helped him up onto Metagross.

"Come on!" Cynthia shouted out as Garchomp sped down a corridor.

"Metagross, follow her," Steven said. The shaking soon subsided as they went through a series of caverns. "Do you know where you're going?" Steven called out after her.

Cynthia didn't answer him as Garchomp flew through the corridors with ease. When she saw the broken stone door she had come through, she yelled back, "there's the exit!"

Once both of them were outside, Steven let out soft sigh in relief. It felt nice breathing in the fresh air after being trapped inside a musty cell for nearly two days straight. He looked back at Mount Coronet and saw it getting smaller as they flew further away from it. He was so caught up in the grand view that he didn't notice Cynthia coming up next to him.

"Do you feel dizzy or anything?" she asked him.

He turned to her and shook his head. "I'll manage," he whispered, smiling. His voice sounded more ragged than it had before.

It wasn't long after that when they reached the small, quiet town. Cynthia guided Garchomp down gently and Steven's Metagross followed suite. Once the two pokemon landed on the soft grass just outside of Professor Carolina's home, the front door swung open. Both Lance and the professor came running towards them. When Carolina saw the amount of blood on Steven, she quickly went over to him.

"What happened?" she questioned to both him and Cynthia.

It was Steven who answered. He let out a lighthearted laugh and muttered, "just Team Galactic business. That's all." Just as he finished that sentence, he grunted in pain as he held his stab wound. He fell back against one of Metagross' arms. Cynthia's grandmother helped him back onto his own two feet.

"Grandma, get him to the Pokemon Center and ask the nurse there to treat him to what extend that she can. Then ask her if she could call up any doctors she knows that can treat his serious injuries," Cynthia told her. The professor nodded and took one of Steven's arms and slung it over her shoulders.

"First you get yourself captured, then you nearly kill yourself in the process!"

Steven laughed softly again, "sorry."

Cynthia watched as they left, along with Metagross following silently behind them. She turned towards Lance and told him, "Team Galactic is definitely inside Mount Coronet. They have their whole base there so they won't be going anywhere for a while."

"That's good. Then we won't have to waste time finding them anymore."

The blonde nodded. She noticed Lance's slightly troubled expression so she asked, "is something wrong?"

"Team Galactic took my pokemon while I was unconscious." Lance paused for a bit before speaking again. "Luckily, they didn't get Dragonite since it flew away."

"I'm sorry Lance. If I had known earlier, I would have tried to get them back when I went to-"

"It's fine," Lance cut in. "You managed to save Steven so that's enough. If you wasted time trying to find my pokemon, you two probably wouldn't have made it. Besides, your grandmother did tell me while you were gone that I had Dragonite. She talked some sense into me I suppose," he admitted, smiling just slightly.

Cynthia placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll get your pokemon back soon."

"Was that a promise?" Lance asked with a lighthearted scoff.

"You could say that," the blonde replied, smiling.

* * *

When both Steven and Professor Carolina arrived in front of the Pokemon Center, a few trainers that were already there were immediately focusing their attention on Steven. He didn't seem to care too much as he went up to the sliding glass door. He stopped and turned around to Metagross. "Stay outside for a bit, okay?"

The huge steel pokemon groaned lowly as it stood in front of the entrance.

The professor helped him through the front entrance and they walked up to the counter, where the pink haired nurse was maintaining a machine that healed pokemon inside their pokeballs.

"Welcome to the Pokemon Center, how may I help-" She cut herself off when she turned to face the two and saw how bloody Steven was. "Oh my..." She timidly raised her hands over her mouth.

"Sorry Nurse Joy but, do you think you could treat him up a bit?" Carolina asked.

The nurse nodded quickly. "Of course, of course! Right this way." She got out from behind the counter and led them into a small treatment room. The room was well lit with only a bed and a small medicine cabinet along with a sink beside it. Nurse Joy motioned towards the bed. "Please lie down."

As Steven eased onto the soft bed, she rifled through the medicine cabinet.

"I'm sorry, most of the major healing medicines I have are for pokemon."

"That's understandable since this is a Pokemon Center after all," Steven replied with a light smile; his voice soft and wispy. He grunted sharply again as pain shot through his body. When the professor showed concern, he waved it off. "I'm fine," he breathed out, lying down upon the bed. Sweat was starting to gather on his forehead as he held in the dull pain that lingered around his major wounds.

The nurse had given up looking for any viable medicine for him and instead went over to the sink. She filled a small basin with cold water and got a towel. She quickly brought it over to the bedside and wet the towel. "I'm sorry it may sting," she said as she wrung it out. Gently, she unbuttoned the last of his dress shirt and placed the wet towel over the stab wound. The clean white towel was quickly turning a bright red from the overflowing blood. She quickly got up and opened the door. She called over her chansey and asked it to bring some clean bandages.

Nurse Joy came back over to the bedside and continued to clean off blood from Steven's face and body.

After a long period of silence, Steven asked, "what happens when we die?"

Both the Professor Carolina and Nurse Joy were taken aback by this sudden question.

"What are you saying, Steven?" the professor asked. "You won't die."

The pink chansey came into the room, holding a tray filled with bandages. Nurse Joy thanked it and took the gauze strips and started to wrap Steven's wrists with them.

Steven sighed and whispered, "I'm just curious. My father told me that when I was younger, I was too curious about everything that he was starting to run out of answers for my questions." He let out a soft laugh as the nurse lifted his head slightly and began to wrap the bandage around his forehead.

"Hm, you're curious about such useless things," Carolina responded, helping the nurse tie off some of the loose bandage ends.

Steven chuckled again. "That's what my father said to me whenever he didn't have the answers. Too bad we can't fortell the future, perhaps then, we would know what would happen."

"Does death scare you?" Nurse Joy asked as she began to wrap another bandage around his stab wound.

There was a long pause before Steven answered, "it does and it doesn't. I'm scared that the people I care about will be sad but, I don't fear dying myself." He paused for another moment before asking the professor, "what will happen if Palkia and Dialga are summoned?"

Carolina remained silent. Instead of providing a solid answer, she simply placed her hands on top of his and whispered, "only time will tell."

* * *

**A/N **_Yeah, sorry if the last part made no sense or if it was really random sounding or if it was just a sudden emo attack. _

_Anyways, I don't think that Pokemon Centers are hospitals and since the game didn't mention any actual hospital establishment (at least I don't think so) I placed the hospital in Sunyshore. It seemed like the most "modern" city in Sinnoh. In of course, my opinion. _

_So yeah, the blackout was probably caused by Volkner. So if Steven ends up dying cause he wasn't treated properly at a nice hospital, Blame Volkner. Lulz. _

_But, I'm just kidding. Steven won't die. Smh._

_Read & Review!  
_


	6. A New Encounter

**A/N **_I just finished watching the first season of Darker Than Black. Holy crap, so good. I think I'm a fan of most of the anime that Bones animation studio makes. First, both series of Fullmetal Alchemist, Ouran High School Host Club, Soul Eater, and now Darker Than Black. _

_Anyways, I'm not saying this because I'm a total Hei fanatic now, but I think the Japanese voice actor that did Hei's voice would have **very** nicely suited Steven. I say this because even the Japanese version of Pokemon managed to screw up his voice by making a 50 year old voice Steven. It was even worse than what the English version did._

_Also, an OC will be making an appearance in this chapter.  
_

_

* * *

_

**Of a Darkness Fortold**

**Chapter 6: A New Encounter  
**

A gentle breeze swept through Celestic Town. Cynthia tucked a lock of blond hair behind her ear as she carried in her other hand a plastic, translucent box filled with three peaches and a few Oran berries. She was on her way to the Pokemon Center to check up on Steven. Last time she heard of him was from her grandmother two days ago. Apparently he was in critical condition due to massive blood loss. The doctor had told her grandmother that he would be stable in a few days. During his recovery however, it was fine for him to stay at the Pokemon Center since the doctor had treated his more serious injuries already.

Cynthia let out a sigh as she arrived in front of the double sliding glass doors of the Pokemon Center. She casually walked up to the front counter and greeted the pink haired nurse. "Good morning, Nurse Joy."

"Good morning to you as well, Miss Cynthia," the nurse responded in a soothing, cheerful tone. She smiled gently and asked, "did you come here to visit Steven?"

"Ah, yes," Cynthia said with a bit hesitance. She suddenly felt a bit embarrassed when she noticed how overbearing she must look with the box of fruits in her hands. She willed herself to not show this however.

"Steven's upstairs making a phone call," Nurse Joy told the blonde. "I'm sure he'll appreciate the food you're giving him." The pink haired nurse giggled when she saw Cynthia's expression look a bit flustered.

"Thank you, then," the female champion quickly said as she strode over towards the stairs leading upstairs.

* * *

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing, Steven?"

The silver haired man held the phone closely to his ear, then he muttered, "I made you worry about me." Steven watched his father on the small screen. He heard the old man scoff briefly afterwards.

"That is no reason to be apologizing to me. I have such a silly son."

Steven let out slight, stifled laugh, as did his father. Mr. Stone chuckled and said in a gentler tone, "I'm glad you're safe." There was long pause afterwards before he spoke up again, "I don't know what I would have done if you were gone."

"What are you saying, dad? I'm here now." Steven smiled a little at his father. "Don't think about those kinds of things anymore."

"I can't help it. You're always going off on some adventure. Getting yourself lost in those caves...traveling to other regions..." Mr. Stone let out a sigh, followed by a contemplative smile. "You know you nearly gave your mother a heart attack when you first brought home that Metagross of yours when it was just a little beldum?"

Steven laughed softly at the memory. "I remember. And she always scolded me for going into caves and to you for influencing me." He heard his father's hearty laugh through the receiver. A little smile decorated Steven's face as he said, "Dad, don't worry about me anymore. I'm going to be fine. Once I recover, I'll come back to Hoenn to visit you."

"Visit?"

"Yeah," Steven dropped his gaze. "It seems that the situation here isn't quite over yet." He heard nothing but silence before his father finally spoke up after a few minutes.

"Be careful then," Mr. Stone responded in a soft tone. He smiled at Steven. "I know you won't let me down. You never did."

Before Steven could respond, his father had ended the call. He stared for a while at the blank black screen until he laughed softly. Putting the phone back on it's hold, he got up from the wooden stool and started to walk back downstairs into his room.

"There you are," he heard a voice say.

Steven raised his head and saw Cynthia standing just a few steps below him. She simply smiled at him, motioning to the box of fruits in her hand. "I hope you're hungry."

He returned her smile and gave a slight nod of his head. "A little bit."

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Cynthia asked him as she took off the hard outer skin of the Oran berry. She handed Steven the tender flesh of the berry that was inside.

"Getting better. From what the doctor told me, I should be able to get out in two more days." He brought the berry up to his mouth and took a small bite out of it. He promptly wiped the free juices off his lips with one of the napkins left on the nightstand. "Why are you giving me this anyways? Most people let their pokemon eat it."

"Well, you _are_ staying in a Pokemon Center," Cynthia replied coolly, peeling off the outer skin of another Oran berry.

"Are you implying that I'm a pokemon?" Steven asked casually as he took another bite of the berry. He flashed her a little smile.

All Cynthia did was laugh softly under her breath as she finished peeling the second Oran berry. She held it in her hands for a while, feeling its cooling sensation over the palm of her hands. After a brief moment of silence, she told him, "there's been no activity at all since you were there."

"Nothing at all?" he asked, finishing up the berry.

"No. You'd think that they would be trying to steal the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs but, there's no suspicious activity here or in Hoenn. It's a bit too quiet if you ask me." The blonde dropped her gaze and stared at the little blue berry still in her hands. Steven noticed the rather befallen expression on her face. He gently placed his hand over hers.

"Don't dwell on it too much. Look." Steven brought his other hand up and lightly poked her on the forehead. "You're getting stress lines."

Cynthia stared at him in shock for a while. "Idiot," she simply muttered, feeling the corners of her mouth turn up just slightly.

He laughed as he plucked the berry out of her hands. "Good, you're smiling," he said right before he took a bite out of the berry.

The blonde felt embarrassment flood through her body. "Only because you look ridiculous in those bandages," she grumbled, looking away. "You'd better get well soon."

Steven laughed. "Will do," he responded.

* * *

"Will he be fine?"

"Of course."

Cynthia sat at the small dining table alone as she curiously eyed Lance, who was sitting on the couch a few feet away from her. He had his head bowed down and his brow was furrowed in deep thought. She cracked a sly smile and told him, "you know you're free to go visit him if you'd like."

"Why would I?" he asked in an incredulous manner, followed by a scoff.

"Oh come on Lance, you must be somewhat concerned about him," Cynthia laughed. "It's written all over your face."

He huffed and stood up from the couch. "I'm simply worried about the pokemon that is getting harmed through Team Galactic's actions. That's all." After that was said, Lance strode out of the house. Once the front door slammed shut, Cynthia crossed her arms over her chest and chuckled, "you're a terrible liar, Lance."

* * *

Steven let out a content sigh as he felt the warm, inviting sunlight on his skin. He was sitting on a bench in a park-like area just behind the Pokemon Center with Skarmory beside him, pecking away at a bowl of pokemon food. The rest of his pokemon were still underneath the care of Nurse Joy.

Very gently, he touched the area on his abdomen where he got stabbed. It no longer hurt and for that he was grateful.

"I need to get better soon," he whispered to himself as he lightly dragged his fingers over the soft gauze cloth covering most of his upper torso. Skarmory raised its head and cooed softly. Steven turned to it and laughed, "don't worry about me, Skarmory! I'll be fine." He reached out and pet the steel clad bird on its head.

"Wow! Such a beautiful skarmory you have there!" a pepped up female voice exclaimed from behind him.

Steven turned around and saw a young girl, probably no less than fourteen years old, with sun bleached blond hair that fell down to her shoulders. She ran up to Skarmory, who simply eyed her curiously.

"Ah, thank you," Steven replied with a kind smile as he started to button up his clean white dress shirt.

The girl giggled and looked up at him with her bright aqua colored eyes. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw the bandages on him. "Did you get hurt somewhere!"

"Huh? No, it's fine. It's just something minor." In an attempt to change the subject, Steven asked her, "are you a pokemon trainer?"

The blond haired girl seemed to take the bait as she completely forgot about his injuries as she triumphantly nodded. "Are you a pokemon trainer too?"

"Well..."

She sharply cut in with a loud gasp. Her face seemed to be written in shock as she held a hand over her mouth. It startled Steven a bit. He took a look behind him to see if there was anything that could remotely surprise her that much. "Is...something wro-?"

"I know you! You're the Hoenn champion, Steven Stone!" she exclaimed. Suddenly a blush rushed up to her cheeks as she held her head. "Ah! I'm so sorry I talked to you so casually! I didn't even ask you for your name from the start! How rude of me!"

Steven stood up from the bench and attempted to calm her down. He glanced around and saw that a few trainers that were in the small park were staring at them. "Please, you don't have to! It's fine! I don't think you're rude at all!" he told her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm...not?" she asked, raising her head to look at him.

"Of course not," he smiled.

"You're much too kind, Mr. Stone."

"Please call me Steven. Mr. Stone's my father." He laughed lightly.

"St-Steven...then," she giggled.

* * *

Afterwards, they talked for a while. Steven found out that her name was Tanya and that she was on her way towards Snowpoint City to get her next badge.

"You're older than I thought you were," he commented when he also found out that she was seventeen.

Tanya giggled. "I think it's because I'm a little short. But, you know, guys find that cute." She flashed another adorable little smile.

"Is that so," Steven laughed softly.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I've been talking about myself all this time!"

"No...it's fi-"

"What are you doing here in Sinnoh?" she asked hastily, leaning in closer to him.

"Ah, just to explore some new caves here and there," he lied, avoiding her gaze. He smiled and said, "I suppose you could call me a rock maniac or something."

She giggled again as she twirled a lock of platnium blond hair with her index finger. "I don't think you're a rock maniac. Maybe...if I have time I could come with you." Immediately, much to Steven's surprise, Tanya blushed a fierce red and held her hot cheeks. "Oh no, no, what am I saying?"

"Uh, are you...okay?" Steven asked.

"Yes! I'm fine! Please forget that I've said that! It's much too embarrassing! Too forward of me!" she buried her face into her tan colored satchel that was on her lap.

"Well, it's nothing to be that embarrassed over." He laughed. Steven saw someone standing just a few feet away in his peripheral vision and turned his head to see who it was. When he saw that it was Lance, Tanya got up from the bench.

"I should get going."

"Huh?"

She faced him with a bright smile on her face. "He's your friend right? It seems that he wants to talk to you."

"Well, I wouldn't say 'friend'," Steven muttered under his breath.

Tanya giggled airily again. "You're so silly, Steven. Well then, I'll be going!" Just as she left, Lance walked over to him.

"She seems nice," Lance said rather nonchalantly as he took a seat beside Steven on the wooden bench. Without waiting for the silver haired man to respond, Lance went on. "Cynthia told me you'll be able to leave in a few days."

"Yeah," Steven replied. "Why are you here? It can't have been to see me." He let out a chuckle, only to receive an annoyed glare from the other champion.

"I'm just here to check up on Dragonite. I can't put it inside a pokeball because Team Galactic took it when they stole my other pokemon." He looked out at the row of trees and Steven followed his gaze. He saw the orange dragon sleeping peacefully against the trunk of a large oak tree.

"I see," the young man said as Lance stood up. Steven looked up at him, holding a hand up to shield his eyes from the sunlight.

Lance remained silent for a while before mumbling, "get well soon."

All Steven did was smile and let out a wry chuckle. "I understand."

* * *

The sweet smell of lush vegetation lingered in the small town. Lance casually walked out of the Pokemon Center, despite the fact that he was getting silent glances and murmured whispers in between the trainers there. He ignored all of this and walked back towards Professor Carolina's home. The paved road beneath his feet were imprinted with faint impressions of ancient pokemon. He never really noticed this until now so he looked at them as he passed by each of them slowly. He was so caught in looking at them that he barely bumped into someone in front of him.

"Oh, I'm sorry." His voice trailed off when he saw who he had bumped into. It was young girl with long dark teal colored hair and a head shorter than him. She had a rather gloomy look on her face but, the longer Lance stared at her, the more she looked expressionless instead. "Uh...I'll just be leaving then," he said, unable to say anything else other than what was already said.

_'What a weird girl...'_ he thought to himself as he walked away. Then, just when he was in earshot of her, she uttered one single word that made him turn around.

"Die."

Lance quirked up an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

The girl looked at him with her deep gray colored eyes that looked as though they were pitch black. "Everyone will die soon...no one will be left."

He stared at her for a while before shaking his head. "Damn, just ignore her," he whispered under his breath as he started to walk away again. All the while, the girl continued to stare back at him with her dull eyes. She turned her head slowly towards Mount Coronet. The giant mountain was seen in the distance, its peak shrouded in a heavy cloud as it always was. She continued staring at it as she motionlessly stood there for over an hour.

* * *

Lance let out a sigh when he reached the front steps of the small house. "I'll be so glad when I'm gone from this crazy place." Right when he raised his hand up to knock on the door, it practically flung open. Cynthia stood in front of him as he stepped back in shock. "Don't do that!" he snapped out.

"Sorry, I didn't even know you were there." Cynthia motioned for him to come inside.

"What now?" he asked, noting her rather troubled look.

"It seems that we are at a standstill right now. Neither us, nor Team Galactic can make a move. It all depends on who has the two orbs."

"We already knew that."

"But, I know that Team Galactic will do _whatever_ it will take to summon Palkia and Dialga. They've already tried stealing the Lustrous Orb once. I doubt they're going to use the same tactics again."

"So then...what are you proposing? You make it sound like they'll resort to another more dangerous method."

Cynthia shook her head slowly. "I don't think so. I think they'll try to sneak past us. With what they did with our pokegears, I know they'll resort to something shady again. They might play with each of our weaknesses, they may threaten the ones we care about, they may use brutal force like they did with Steven, all I'm saying is that we can't fall for them again. We can't afford to lose another battle."

The red head sighed as he took a seat on the couch. "We won't. As long as Steven keeps his mouth shut on the location of the Adamant Orb and if we stay here to guard the Lustruous Orb, they won't be summoning the two legendaries anytime soon."

"Just be on the lookout for any suspicious characters, alright?" Cynthia told him as she went over to the kitchen to grab a little snack. All the while, Lance took a look out the window and narrowed his eyes when he saw the same gloomy girl that he had met before, stand right outside the house. They met each other's gaze and the girl simply walked away. Lance watched her until she disappeared from sight.

"Suspicious figures...huh?"

* * *

**A/N **_Sorry this chapter's rather shorter than the others. I figured it was a good place to leave off of. _

_Anyways, I got a Jirachi through the mystery gift events a few days ago. It's super cute and I found out that it's half steel, which makes me adore it even more. I got two of them, one on my Heartgold version and one on my Pearl version. If anyone wants the extra one or something, just tell me. I'll be more than willing to share the Jirachi love.  
_

_Read & Review!  
_


	7. Broken Bonds

**A/N **_If any of you haven't, read Koukou Debut. It is the cutest shojo manga I've ever read. _

* * *

**Of a Darkness Fortold**

**Chapter 7: Broken Bonds  
**

_It was barren and dry. Not a sign of life anywhere. The only thing that was there was herself. _

_Cynthia looked around the desert-like landscape, hoping to find someone or something. She took her first step and clearly heard the gravelly ground beneath her crunch crisply. Surprised, she looked down at her black high heel boots and saw nothing but soft sand underneath them. She cautiously took another step and heard the loud crunch of gravel once again. _

_'You've failed us, Cynthia...'_

_"Who's there?" she asked to the vast space. She saw nothing but a dim darkness mixed in with swirling clouds of purple dust all around her. Before she called out again, a figure emerged from the darkness. It was her grandmother. _

_'You've failed Cynthia, to think...my dear granddaughter...' _

_"Grandma...please don't...I didn't fail! I...it's just a set back!" She attempted to approach the elderly woman when she was abruptly stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She immediately recognized the gentle touch to be that of Steven's as she turned around to meet him. He looked at her as if he were pitying her. _

_'Haven't you done enough?' he asked her softly. 'You've hurt everyone enough already. Your grandmother, me, Lance...' _

_"I haven't given up yet! I haven't hurt anyone yet!" _

_'Quit kidding yourself.' This time, Lance emerged from the shadows, standing beside Cynthia's grandmother. He glared at her intensely. 'It's your fault that the world we knew...ended.'_

_All of a sudden, dozens of people began to appear all around her. They threw their questions at her in their voices filled with despair. _

_'Why didn't you save us, Cynthia?' _

_'Why didn't you?'_

_'Why, Cynthia? Why?'_

_

* * *

_

The blonde shot up from the couch. She breathed heavily as if she had just surfaced from being underwater for a long time. Sweat coated her forehead thinly as she cleared away her golden blond bangs away from her face. She looked around and sighed in relief when she saw that she was inside the house and not in the middle of an arid desert.

"Bad dream?" her grandmother asked.

Cynthia turned around and saw that her grandmother was still up, researching once again. She smiled tiredly and whispered, "a little."

"You're too stressed," Carolina remarked, flipping through a book and making notes.

"I saw that everyone was mad at me for letting the world end," Cynthia let out a dry chuckle. "I'm sorry grandma. I guess these are just one of the little pressures on becoming champion."

"Lance and Steven have that pressure as well. They are willing to share the burden with you Cynthia. Why don't you let them? Even though they seem quite incapable compared to you," her grandmother said haughtily. All Cynthia did was laugh.

"Grandma...don't say that just because they're not here. I value them but, this was a problem that was my burden in the first place. They both have their own regions to take care of." Cynthia smiled gently as lied back down on the couch. She stared up at the ceiling for a long time before whispering, "I'm not quite sure what will happen now. It seems like a fantasy that Palkia and Dialga will be summoned." She crossed her legs and let out a rather melancholic sigh.

"If you were younger, you would be excited by these events. You said you always wanted to see them," Carolina chuckled.

"But, back then I didn't know it would cause a whole bunch of problems." Cynthia laughed softly as she closed her eyes. "My parents always warned me never to wish for something like that. Of course I didn't know what they were talking about."

"And now you know."

"Yeah..."

* * *

"It's late, dad. Shouldn't you be getting some rest?"

Steven watched as his father gave a hearty laugh. "Of course not. When I heard you were finally coming back, I told myself to be awake and fully energized when I meet you!"

They were both in a small, high class restaurant. Steven felt it to be a little overbearing, but he couldn't just say no after his father insisted upon eating dinner there. "You're leaving tomorrow! You should at least have a nice meal before you go!" he remembered his father saying a few hours before.

"Here are your waters and wine, sir," a waitress said as she gently placed two water filled wine glasses on the table, one in front of Steven and one in front of Mr. Stone. Lastly, she placed a heavy bottle of red wine in the middle of the table. "Your meals will be out in just a few more minutes, sir." She politely bowed.

"Thank you," Mr. Stone replied.

"Dad," Steven said in a warning tone. He waited until the waitress left their table. "You're not planning to get drunk tonight, are you?"

"This is just a refreshment, Steven!" his father exclaimed, taking the wine bottle. "I just want to have a drink with my son, just for old times sake."

Steven stared at him for a while with a slightly surprised look. He finally let out a wry chuckle and let a smile decorate his face. "I have such a weird father."

* * *

"And that's what she said to me! Ridiculous, isn't it?"

"Very," Steven laughed uneasily as he helped his father back to his penthouse. He quietly walked beside him, listening to the middle aged man talk about all sorts of things that happened while he was at work. Most of it was nonsense for he was very drunk.

_'And I told him not to be,' _Steven thought to himself, sighing inwardly as he tightly gripped his father's arm that was slung over his shoulders. Luckily for both of them, Rustboro was a particularly quiet town despite it being big. No one was out at night. Mr. Stone didn't have to worry about staining the clean slate reputation he made for Devon and Steven didn't have to deal with the fact that his father was just being plain embarrassing in front of other people.

"You seem to talk about your secretary a lot, dad," Steven said, commenting on what has been the topic of Mr. Stone's conversation for the last few minutes. "Do you like her?" he asked, vaguely remembering the middle aged woman that sat just outside of his father's office all day, filing and making phone calls.

Mr. Stone shook his head. "No, no..."

"Oh, I see. You don't have to hold back just because of me, dad. I told you I'm fine with you dating other women." Steven laughed light heartedly.

"That's not it." His father let out a heavy sigh and smiled softly. "I can't bring myself to love anyone else like I did your mother. She was brilliant, beautiful, funny," Mr. Stone chuckled, reminiscing back to his memories of her. He turned his head slightly upward to meet Steven's eyes. "You'll know if you fall in love someday, Steven. That person becomes irreplaceable to you." Mr. Stone chuckled when he saw his son's confused expression.

"Maybe," Steven replied, smiling.

* * *

By the time they got up to Mr. Stone's small penthouse, he was already wiped out. Steven managed to haul his father all the way to the bed without waking the drunken man. He sighed and grumbled under his breath, "jeez, getting yourself drunk..." His expression softened as he watched his father sleeping. "'night," he whispered as he quietly left the room.

Steven left the penthouse and walked down the hall towards the elevator. He decided to take a walk through Rustboro since there was nothing else he could do. He didn't feel any incentive to go to sleep even though he knew he had to rest up for tomorrow and the remainder of his lingering injuries.

A cool night breeze hit him head on as he exited the apartment building. He tilted his head back and looked up at the clear night sky, filled with a countless number twinkling stars.

"Steven? Is that you?"

He turned his head towards the direction of the voice and saw, much to his surprise, that it was Tanya. He widened his gray eyes when she came running up to him. "Tanya? What are you doing all the way in Hoenn?"

"Oh, I'm just here paying a visit to my parents. They get so worried about me! Say, hasn't it been a week since we met at the Pokemon Center?" Her voice was full of energy as it was before. "Are you all done exploring the caves in Sinnoh already?"

"Huh?" Steven was confused for a minute before remembering that he had lied to her before in order to cover up his real reason on why he was there. "Ah, yes there wasn't much to explore in the first place," he replied back smoothly. "I guess Hoenn just has a lot more caves that hold my interest." He laughed lightly.

"Oh...and I wanted to explore one with you." She looked rather downfallen as she shuffled her feet on the ground.

"I'm sorry, maybe next time?" he kindly offered.

"Promise?" she asked, pouting slightly.

"I promise," he said, holding out his pinky to her. She giggled and wrapped her pinky around his. "It's a promise then!" Her mood seemed to be quickly enlightened. Steven flashed her a warm smile and asked, "it's a little late for a girl like you to be wandering around by herself, isn't it?"

"I don't think Rustboro's all that dangerous. Look how quiet it is around here!"

Steven chuckled, "I guess you're right. But, your parents must be worrying about you right? After all, if they worry about you so much that they interrupt your journey, they surely wouldn't let you go out at night by yourself."

"H-Huh?" she asked, looking a bit frightened. "Ye-Yes, I guess you're right."

He took note of her sudden change in behavior, but brushed it off. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

"No, it's fine!" She laughed, taking a step back away from him. "I can walk there by myself!"

"But, I won't be able to forgive myself if something were to happen to you. Let me walk you home," Steven insisted. He looked surprise when Tanya suddenly lowered her head and held her hands tightly above her chest. "Tanya...?" he asked softly.

"Everything's fine...everything's fine." He heard her voice cracking.

"It doesn't sound like it." Steven stepped closer to her. "I'm sorry, did I hurt you?"

She whimpered softly and shook her head. "I'm sorry I lied to you, Steven. I'm really sorry."

"Lie?"

Tanya raised her head and looked at him with her soft green eyes that were filled with tears. "I lied to you. My parents...are both dead. I came to Hoenn to visit their burial site," she sniffled, "and the only reason I came to Rustboro was because this is where I lived before they died. I just couldn't let go of all the wonderful memories. I just felt sudden nostalgia that I-" She stopped when she felt Steven wrap his arms around her. "Y-You're not mad at me?"

"Of course not," he replied in a gentle whisper. "How can I be mad for a little lie like that? I'm sorry that I pried into your life too much. It was rude of me."

The sun bleached blonde shook her head. "You can't be rude. You were never rude. You couldn't have known from the start." She felt tears welling up again in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm crying too much."

Steven raised a hand and placed it on the back of her head. He stroked her hair gently and let her cry into his shoulder. "Shh, it's alright." They stood there for a while like that. When Steven no longer heard her crying, he heard her ask him, "so, you don't hate me?"

"No," he answered with a gentle smile.

Tanya fully embraced him by wrapping her arms around his body. She buried her face into his chest and let a sly grin tug at the corners of her mouth. "Thank you," she said in a voice that dripped of honey. "You're much too kind."

* * *

There was a hurried knock at the door.

Cynthia opened up her eyes and lay there as she heard another series of impatient knocks. She sat herself up and yawned. "The door's open!" she yelled tiredly as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

The front door clicked open and Lance strode in. Cynthia turned her head and looked rather surprised to see him standing there. "Oh, why are you here? I told you, you could take a little break since Steven's not here as well." She yawned again as she got up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen.

Lance let his red eyes follow her. He let out a sigh and replied, "it's been a week already. If Steven feels like he wants to take his sweet time, let him. I for one, am someone that lost his pokemon to Team Galactic. I wish to get them back as soon as possible."

Cynthia took out a small glass bottle of milk from the refrigerator and took off the cap. She drank the whole bottle in one go and placed the now empty bottle on the kitchen counter. "We won't do anything until Steven gets back from Hoenn, alright?" She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

Grimacing in disgust, Lance followed her out the house. "You're disgusting for being a girl, you know that?" he asked as they left the house.

"Hm, tell me something I don't know." Cynthia shot at him a cocky smirk, for which Lance returned with a glare. She locked the front door and headed down the street.

"And what exactly are you planning to do?" Lance asked as he followed closely behind her. "You said it yourself that "we won't do anything until Steven gets back."" He tried mocking her by imitation. Cynthia pretended to ignore his childish taunt.

"I'm going to check up on the Lustruous Orb. I have to make sure nothing's been tampered with and that there's nothing suspicious around."

The red haired champion followed her silently until they got to the building that housed the orb. He was stopped abruptly by Cynthia when he attempted to enter the building with her. "Sorry, no one else is allowed to see the orb besides me and my grandmother."

"Fine."

Lance crossed her arms over his chest and leaned against the walls of the building. As he waited by the entrance, he noticed someone standing just a few feet away from him. He looked at them and saw that it was the same girl that he had seen a while back. She noticed that she had gotten his attention and so she began to walk towards him. Her dark teal swayed slightly and her eyes remained fixated on him. Lance narrowed his eyes at her. Perhaps it was time for him to confront her.

"Why are you-"

She cut in rather abruptly. "Following you?" she asked, finishing up his sentence for him. "You didn't heed my warning."

"Must I?" Lance questioned. He glared at her and she returned his glare with a unexpressive stare of her own. Finally, it was him who had to break the thick silence with a sigh. "You're a pokemon trainer, no?" He geastured to the pokeballs that were clipped around her waist.

She looked down at them and gave a slight nod.

"Then you shouldn't concern yourself with what is going on in my life right now. But, if you really want to see me so badly, come by the Indigo Plateau. I'll gladly accept a challenge."

Lance felt a slight chill when he saw her eyes narrowing at him. She didn't seem at all amused by his snappy response. "...Why are you telling me these things? And how do I know that you're not lying?"

"I never lie," the girl replied in a monotone voice. "I have no reason to lie to someone that I just met." She stood there stiffly as if she were a mannequin. Her neat, white laced black dress made Lance think of a typical, dull maid outfit.

"Do you by any chance...work for anyone?" he asked, judging her purely on her outer appearance.

"No. You assumed earlier that I was a pokemon trainer and you were right. Are you questioning yourself now?"

A sharp scoff left Lance's mouth as he turned his head away from her. "Go home. I don't know who you are and why you're telling me such cryptic messages. If your objective is to try and scare me, it isn't working." Lance heard nothing but silence and thought she had left. Just as he was about to confirm, he heard her flat toned voice.

"Why would I try to scare the only people that could stop Team Galactic?"

"What?" Lance whispered as he turned around. An expression of shock was written all over his face when he saw the girl no more. It was as if she had vanished into thin air. "What the hell?"

"Lance? What's wrong?" Cynthia asked.

The red head turned around and met the female champion's steel gray eyes. "Did you just see a girl there? She's about two heads shorter than me, has long dark hair, a long black dress and-"

Cynthia raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? It sounds like you're describing a ghost." She laughed. "It looks like you're starting to hallucinate. We'd better hurry and get your pokemon back if this is the result of that." She walked away before Lance could say anything else.

He took a look behind him again and didn't see the girl still. Lance shook his head and chuckled, "I must be tired..."

As he walked away, the girl in the black dress watched him. She peered out from behind a small building and continued staring at him with her inky gray eyes. "But, will you be too late?" she whispered, looking down at the ground.

* * *

"At least the Lustrous Orb is safe still. It seems that there were no threats made by Team Galactic to steal it." Cynthia expected some type of verbal response from Lance, but when all she heard was silence, she looked up at him sitting on the couch. He seemed to be deep in thought again. "Lance, I'm sorry that I'm boring you."

"Cynthia...you told me to be on the lookout for suspicious characters, right?" he asked in a rather ominous tone. He raised his head and faced her. "That girl I met earlier. She's been following me around everywhere. I've seen her a week ago on my way from the Pokemon Center and then a few minutes after that, she was standing right outside this house. If that doesn't make someone suspicious, I don't know what else will."

The blonde champion sighed tiredly. She stood up from the chair she was sitting in and placed her hands on her hips. "You're really something, aren't you Lance?"

"What?"

"I told you, it's just a hallucination. You're just tired and stressed out that your pokemon were stolen."

"I'm not! This girl is real! She had a conversation with me! She gives me all these cryptic messages about death and the universe!" Lance exhaled sharply. He began to speak again, this time in a calmer, lower tone. "I'm past the fact that Team Galactic has my pokemon. It doesn't matter to me anymore. All that matters is that we stop them."

Cynthia sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm sorry...Lance. I just," she paused for a short while before continuing. "I can't believe what you're saying."

"What part of it is so unbelievable?"

"Well-"

"Is it the girl? Is it the messages she's giving me?" When Lance heard no response from her, he let out a huff in frustration. After a long period of silence, he finally muttered, "if this came from Steven, would you believe it then?"

"What?"

"I bet if Steven told you the same thing, you'd believe him in a heartbeat." Lance whispered lowly.

"No, I wouldn't! Quit making things up by yourself!"

"I'm not making anything up! I'm right about everything! You and Steven always agree on things, you believe every word he says-" Lance was suddenly cut off by Cynthia grabbing his shirt collar. Her hand shook as she held the black clothing tightly in her hands. She glared at him and all he did was look at her with an air of smug confidence. "Are you really going to hit me?"

Cynthia clenched her teeth and looked away.

"I knew it," Lance scoffed as he hit her hand away. He strode towards the door and opened it. By sheer coincidence, Steven stood at the front steps. His hand was raised in a loose fist as if he was about to knock on the door.

"Oh, Lance, how have you be-?" Steven stopped when he saw Lance's red eyes glaring hatefully at him. The red haired champion roughly pushed past him and walked away. Steven looked on after him and peered into the small house where he saw Cynthia standing there silently by the couch. "Uhm, did...something happen?"

The blonde raised her head and looked at him. She looked annoyed as she yelled, "I don't know! Why don't you go ask that asshole that just walked the hell out of here?" She too, walked over and brushed past him as she left the house. He saw her walk angrily away, right past her grandmother.

"Oh, Cynthia! I've decided to turn my research back to the ruins again!" The elderly woman looked confused when her granddaughter ignored her. She turned towards the house and saw Steven standing there at the front steps. She went over to him and asked, "you didn't do anything to hurt my granddaughter, did you?" She sounded a bit hostile.

Steven shook his head and looked out into the direction where Lance had walked off to. "No, I didn't. I have no idea what happened here."

* * *

**A/N **_Sorry, another short chapter. _

_I hope to post another chapter soon. Maybe when I get some more reviews. Like I've said before countless times before, it shows that people are actually reading this. Hits are not accurate counts in my opinion. Basically, I won't update this story if I don't get reviews. Personally, I'm fine with that.  
_

_Read & Review (Seriously)  
_


	8. Reunited

**A/N **_Sorry this chapter's so delayed! I haven't really been writing anything that much lately._

_ Thank you for all the continuous support!  
_

_

* * *

_

**Of a Darkness Fortold**

**Chapter 8: Reunited  
**

"Can't you put aside your pride for once?"

Lance kept his head turned away from Steven, who was standing just a few feet away. The red haired champion leaned back against the hard backboard of the couch and continued to remain silent. He looked outside the adjacent window blankly. It was nearly pitch black dark outside. Steven followed Lance's gaze and sighed.

"Are you going to go apologize to Cynthia?"

Steven waited for some type of response, but there wasn't any. He looked back out the window again and started walking towards the door. That was when Lance finally spoke up.

"She can stay outside for as long as she wants. Like I give a damn about her," he muttered.

At this, Steven sighed softly and reached for the door knob. He kept his hand wrapped around the cool metal and paused before he opened it. In a soft voice, he said, "she cares a lot about you." Lance turned his head slightly towards Steven. The silver haired man met his gaze and smiled rather bitterly. "I just thought you should know that"

He opened up the door and strode outside. When the door shut closed, the whole house was filled in silence. All Lance heard was the gentle ticking of the wall clock hanging above his head. He tightly crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke, "like I care about that." His hands began to tremble slightly. He knew he was just lying to himself.

* * *

Small puffs of fog came out of Steven's mouth every time he breathed out. It was indeed colder in Sinnoh than the tropical climate of Hoenn. He slowed down his pace when he began to pant. He couldn't overexert himself quite yet since he was still recovering. Already, he had checked the Pokemon Center and asked around if anyone had seen Cynthia at all.

When he saw an elderly woman walking towards him, he went up to her.

"I'm sorry to be bothering you," he said rather apologetically.

The woman simply bowed her head slightly and smiled. "Quite alright, young man."

"Did you happen to see Cynthia anywhere?" he asked. It seemed like the whole town knew about her just by name.

"Cynthia?" The old woman looked up slightly in thought. "Ah, I remember. I saw her just a few minutes ago on my way back into town." She lifted up her wrinkled hand and pointed towards the direction that she came from. "If you hurry, she might still be there."

"Thank you very much," Steven said as he ran off again. As he traveled further down the road, he heard a faint splashing sound. He stopped running and listened closely. Quietly, he began to walk towards the sound. It grew louder and until he finally saw Cynthia, sitting on a rock that was beside a small lake. Cautiously, Steven walked towards her, weaving carefully around the trees that separated her from him. He finally stood just a few feet behind her and silently watched as she continued to mindlessly throw pebbles and stones into the lake.

After she threw in a fairly large stone, she mumbled, "what do you want?"

"You know you could skip some of those stones across the water?" he said as he came up beside her. He looked down at the muddy banks and bent down to pick up a flat stone. "See? You just take stones like these and you throw it like this." Steven threw the stone at his waist level and Cynthia watched it bounce two times on the water before it sunk. She looked down at the small rock in her hand and simply threw it in like she had done before.

At this, Steven chuckled. "No wonder you and Lance don't get along. You're both quite stubborn."

"If you're trying to get me to make up with Lance, forget it. I'm not apologizing until he does it first."

"Why?" Steven asked, leaning back on a fairly large rock that was behind him.

"I did nothing and he just exploded on me saying that I wasn't being fair. He thought I favored you over him."

"And do you...really?" Steven asked.

Cynthia paused for a bit and looked out at the lake. "I value you both. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I knew that something had happened to either of you." She faced Steven. "I hope you know this."

He laughed softly and closed his gray eyes. "I do, don't worry." Steven reopened his eyes and smiled gently." But, perhaps you need to tell Lance this." Cynthia turned away and narrowed her eyes at the shimmering surface of the lake. He continued, "how about you don't apologize, but just tell him what you just told me. I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

"You know he's mad at you too?"

Steven let out a dry chuckle. "I knew he didn't like me from the start."

"Then shouldn't you two work that out as well?" Cynthia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe," he replied rather halfheartedly. Steven looked up at the night sky and then back down at Cynthia. He smiled as he held out a hand to her. "We should get back shouldn't we? It's getting pretty late."

The blonde ignored his outstretched hand and stood up from her seat. But, before Steven could pull his hand back, she grabbed it and gave a little warm squeeze. "Thanks for trying to find me," she said, softly.

Steven simply flashed a charming little smile. "We've got to stick together now, don't we?"

Just as Cynthia opened her mouth to respond, the sudden sound of an explosion echoed through the night. The once calm surface of the lake, trembled violently. At that moment, both Steven and Cynthia let go of each other's hands and braced themselves.

"This isn't an earthquake, is it?" Steven asked, leaning onto a large rock for support.

"Earthquakes are practically unheard of in this region," Cynthia replied, kneeling down on the ground. The trembling soon stopped and she turned her head slightly. She saw a large plumb of smoke erupt from where the town was located. "It was an explosion!" She got up quickly and ran off in the direction towards the small town.

Steven followed, running closely behind her. "You don't think it's Team Galactic, do you?"

"I'm willing to bet everything that it is. Perfect timing for them I suppose." Cynthia silently cursed under her breath. _'Very perfect timing, I'll say.'_

As they were both running into the town, the citizens of the town were being evacuated by the local authorities. Cynthia stopped and caught her breath. She looked around and pulled aside an officer that was aiding an elderly man. "What happened? Is anybody hurt?"

"There was an explosion inside the research center just now. As much as it seemed like it did a lot of damage, the surrounding areas weren't affected at all."

Cynthia clenched her fists tightly and took off running. Steven ran after her. "It's surprising how much that explosion shook the ground and yet it didn't do that much damage"

"Above surface it didn't. The explosion was underground, right where we hid the Lustrous Orb."

When they arrived at the center of the explosion, a horde of golbat were flying around the partially destroyed research center building. Before both of them could take another step closer, a light chuckle sounded before them.

"Well, well. You two showed up faster than I expected." From inside the building, Mars slowly walked out the front entrance. A cocky smirk was plastered on her face as she looked down at the two champions. "Were you hoping to get the Lustruous Orb? How cute."

"Get out of the way!" Cynthia yelled. "Do you realize what you're doing may endanger everyone?"

Mars laughed. "I'm not getting out of the way for the likes of you. I only follow orders given by our boss! If you want to get past me..." She flashed a dark grin. "Golbat, use Toxic!"

At her command, the golbat that were flying around the building behind her focused their attention on Cynthia and Steven. They flew towards them, their huge mouths filling up with poisonous purple fluid.

"Dragonite, use Hyper Beam!" In a quick second, a powerful beam shot down right in front of the two champions and the dozens of golbat. Both Cynthia and Steven shielded themselves from the dust and debris. Once the clouds of dust cleared up, Cynthia saw someone running towards them in her peripheral vision.

"What are you two doing? Get up." She recognized the all too familiar voice to be Lance's.

Coughing, Cynthia raised her head and met his eyes. "L-Lance?"

"I guess it's a good thing that Steven decided to find you," Lance said in a rather careless tone, to which Cynthia responded with a glare.

"Heh, so you're all here together? Too bad you'll never get the orb back even with all of you!" Mars laughed darkly. She smirked as she took out a pokeball. "I'll take you all on at once!"

"Please, don't kid yourself. You don't even stand a chance against one of us!" Cynthia said with an air of confidence.

"That's her plan," Lance whispered through clenched teeth. "Damn it. We need to get past her. Don't you see? She's just stalling. I don't think she even intends on winning a battle."

"In that case..." Steven stepped forward, unclipping a pokeball from his belt. "I'll battle her."

"Are you sure?" Cynthia asked.

"You and Lance just go on ahead. We can't afford to lose anymore time." Steven pushed the button on the pokeball. Once it expanded to full size, he threw it out in front of him. "Go, Metagross!" In flash of light, the huge steel pokemon appeared before them. Steven lowered his voice to a whisper. "Metagross and I will create an opening for you and Lance to slip inside the building. Just be ready." He walked away from Lance and Cynthia and towards his pokemon's side.

"What? I'm facing you only?" Mars asked, sneering. "What is this, revenge for what I did to you?"

"You could call it that," Steven replied with a smirk of his own.

"Hmph." The red haired woman chuckled as she threw out her own pokeball. "Come out and play, Bronzong!" The bell shaped pokemon let out a low chiming sound as it materialized in front of Mars.

"Metagross, use Shadow Ball!" A cloud of dark energy formed before the iron-clad pokemon. The energy formed itself into a dense ball and Metagross promptly shot it out towards Bronzong.

"Use Gyro Ball, Bronzong!" Mars called out.

Bronzong spun quickly, forming a bright ring around it's center. It took Metagross' attack head on, looking as if the attack did little to no damage. Mars laughed at the outcome. "Is this the best you could do?"

Steven offered up no response. Instead, he commanded Metagross to attack again. "Keep using Shadow Ball!"

Mars grit her teeth. "How annoying. Bronzong, dodge it at all costs!"

The two steel pokemon began their battle. Metagross continuously fired off attacks and Bronzong weaved in and around those attacks, dodging them almost effortlessly.

Lance and Cynthia watched the battle unfold before them. "What is he doing?" Lance whispered under his breath. "He's wasting more time like this!"

"He's creating a sure opening for us. That woman..." Cynthia looked at Mars hatefully. "She was given one task to do and that's to stall and let none of us pass until the rest of her team is done securing the orb. She does her job thoroughly. It's not a surprise that she's a commander." The blonde kept her eyes on Bronzong and finally came to a realization. "He's definitely creating an opening. He's luring Bronzong out of the way so that we could get past."

Mars realized this as well and yelled out, "Bronzong! Come back quickl-!"

"Metagross, use Meteor Mash!" Steven cut in. Metagross kicked off the ground and hurtled itself towards Mars. The red haired commander got out of the way just as Metagross smashed through the front doors with it's heavy arm.

"There's our chance! Let's go!" Amidst the confusion and debris, Cynthia and Lance managed to get into the building, Dragonite following closely behind them.

Mars staggered as she got herself up. "Damn it." She attempted to run into the building after them, but Metagross blocked her way. She bit her slightly bleeding lip and grinned. "Golbat, after them!"

"Use Psychic, Metagross!"

The dozens of golbat all froze in midair, immobilized by Psychic. Steven stepped forward, narrowing his eyes. "Your battle's with me, Mars. Don't forget that."

The red head turned around to face the steel champion. She laughed once more. "I _really_ hate you...all the champions. Always meddling in our plans as if you had any business to meddle in the first place! I should've killed you when I had the chance." Mars tilted her head and giggled. "Well, I suppose better late than never. Go, Bronzong! Aim all your attacks at him!" She pointed a slender finger directly at Steven.

* * *

"They should be at the underground corridor."

"You hid the orb in a corridor?" Lance asked, slightly confused.

"No, it's in a room of course. The toughest metal acts as the doors and the only way to open it is to provide a complete scan of either my hands or my grandmother's. That explosion a while ago was probably Team Galactic's attempt to try to blow open the doors." Cynthia ran ahead of Lance. "This way," she directed, turning a corner.

As they got closer to the room where the Lustrous Orb was being held, there was the faint lingering smell of burnt gunpowder and chemicals.

"Hold it right there!" Cynthia shouted, stopping the Galactic grunts that were working on forcing open the steel doors. "You're not getting into that room under my watch."

"Well, if it aren't the league champions themselves," Saturn said in a coolly. He flashed a little lopsided grin and asked, "to what do I owe this honor?"

"Quit playing around and step away from the door. You're cornered and have no where else to escape!" Lance said.

"Oh?" The blue haired man brought his hand up and pressed gently on an ear piece he was wearing. Suddenly, a cunning smile inched across his face. "Excellent," he said. Saturn turned towards the two champions and sighed softly. His expression grew relaxed as he said, "so sorry to leave so abruptly, but I'm afraid we must part ways."

"What?"

Saturn turned his head towards the grunt that was working on unlocking the door. He gave a little nod and as if on cue, the heavy steel doors slid open. At that time, both Cynthia and Lance were in shock with what they _didn't _see.

"The orb...it's gone!"

Chuckling lightly, Saturn stepped into the small room and was bathed in the soft glow of the moonlight. A few ropes dropped down into the room and Saturn grabbed a hold of one of them. "You've lost this time, _Champions._ Oh, but don't worry, you'll be getting used to it soon." He smirked just as he and the grunts were lifted out of the room by the ropes.

"Wait!" Cynthia ran into the room and looked up to find the ceiling completely gone. She shielded herself from the harsh wind created by a loud helicopter that was above the room. Once the aircraft left, Lance mounted Dragonite and extended a hand towards Cynthia.

"Get on. We need to catch up to them to get the Lustrous Orb back," he said.

The blonde swallowed her pride and nodded. She took his hand and was pulled up onto Dragonite's back.

"Let's go Dragonite."

The orange dragon trilled and kicked off the ground. It shot up into the air and sped away towards the helicopter. But once they got close to it, Lance frowned and asked, "aren't they going a little too slow for being chased after?"

"You're right," Cynthia muttered. "This might be another one of their dirty tricks."

"What if they aren't the ones with the orb?"

The female champion bit down on her bottom lip. She reached for the pokeball that held her garchomp. "We can't take any chances. We'll just be under the assumption that they've split up their parties." Cynthia threw the pokeball into the air and released Garchomp.

Dragonite slowed down just enough so that Cynthia could get onto Garchomp.

"I'll go back and look for any other parties that might have the orb. You stay on them just in case."

Lance gave a slight nod of his head. Just before Cynthia and Garchomp left, he stopped them. "...I'm...sorry about earlier," he mumbled, looking away from Cynthia.

The blonde, slightly shocked that he apologized, simply smiled and replied, "I'm sorry too."

* * *

He knew if this battle were to continue any longer, both he and Metagross would be completely worn out.

"Bronzong, use Gyro Ball again!" Mars shouted.

As before, Bronzong hurtled itself towards Steven. He managed to get out of the way just as the heavy bell pokemon crashed into the ground. Steven coughed from the dirt that was airborne as he quickly got up from the ground. He clenched his fists when he saw that Metagross was still occupied with the dozens of golbat surrounding it. Suddenly from behind, he heard Bronzong's low, echoing tone as it got up from the small crater it made. Without a second thought, Steven ran away from it.

Mars laughed and placed her hands on her hips. "Running away from the fight, Stevie? I thought you wanted your revenge!" She smiled darkly when Steven shot back a glare. "Bronzong, use Extrasensory!"

Steven barely managed to dodge it again. He slid slightly on the ground, the dirt and rocks crunching underneath his shoes. Wiping away a bit of dirt on his face with the back of his hand, he tried to catch his breath.

"Getting tired, already?" Mars asked.

The silver haired man turned to meet her gaze. "It's hard not to be when your opponent's playing dirty."

"Hm." She had an amused smiled painted across her face. "I wonder why you're not sending out your other pokemon. Is it because you thought this would be an easy win?"

"It would have been if it hadn't turned out like this."

"Oh Stevie," Mars crossed her arms over her chest. "You should know me better than that."

Suddenly, the loud sound of helicopter blades cutting through the air was heard. As the helicopter hovered over the building, a strong wind kicked up and blew dirt and dust all around the area. Steven shielded his eyes from the dirt with his arm. Mars took this opportunity to recall her Bronzong and escape into the building.

Once the helicopter left, Steven looked to where Mars once was and found out that she had fled. He looked all around and saw that even the golbat and bronzong had vanished along with her.

He let out a sharp exhale and dusted himself off. Steven looked up towards the escaping helicopter. He made out what appeared to be Lance and Cynthia chasing after the aircraft.

Metagross lumbered over to Steven's side. It lowered itself on the ground low, already knowing what needed to be done. Steven took hold of one of Metagross' arms and lifted himself on top of the main body.

"Let's go after them, Metagross," Steven said. The steel pokemon let out a low moaning sound as it tucked in it's massive arms and got airborne. It flew towards the chopper and once it got closer to it, Steven could see Lance riding on the back of his dragonite. "Lance!" he called out.

The red haired champion turned his head. "About time you got here," he said just as Metagross caught up to Dragonite.

"Where's Cynthia?"

"She thinks this helicopter is only a diversion, so she left to find any other teams that could have the Lustrous Orb," Lance answered. He turned his attention back to the helicopter they were chasing. "I'm believing her theory more and more as each second passes by. This helicopter isn't showing any signs of stopping."

Suddenly, as if those were the magic words, the helicopter came to gentle stop. It hovered over the area, almost ominously. For a moment, there was no movement or sounds other than the helicopter's blades.

"What are they up to?" Lance whispered under his breath. "They're not wanting to battle us, are they?"

Steven eyed the helicopter warily. He turned towards Lance and widened his eyes. "Lance! Look out!"

The dragon trainer turned his head and saw a fearow flying straight at him. Dragonite flew downwards and helped Lance avoid the bird pokemon. Steven's metagross did the same. Both champions looked up at the fearow that was now circling high above their heads.

"What is that around its neck?" Steven asked.

"It looks like...a bag." Lance scoffed in disbelief. "Are they fooling around with us? Just what kind of game are they playing?"

"Game? You're quite harsh, Mr. Indigo Plateau Champion. I'd rather call this a "challenge"." A loud voice permeated the surroundings. Both Lance and Steven turned their attention towards the flying craft where the voice originated from.

"It's that bastard, Saturn," the red haired champion whispered, narrowing his red eyes at the helicopter.

"So? Are you willing to take up the challenge? Mind you, it won't be that easy."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lance yelled, questioning Saturn.

"You're not curious as to what's in that bag, are you? Perhaps you'll take me more seriously when I tell you it's your own pokemon in that bag."

"What?" He whipped around and eyed the bag around the fearow's neck. Right then, the fearow swooped down like a dart, right between Dragonite and Metagross. As the fearow darted in between and around the two champions, the helicopter took this chance to leave. "You've got to be kidding me," Lance said when he saw the helicopter starting to leave. "Dragonite, let's go after them-"

"Lance!" Steven shouted. "Forget it. I'll go after the helicopter. You stay here and retrieve that bag!"

"What? They're lying! I bet there's nothing in that bag! They just want to split us up!"

"Will you be able to forgive yourself for losing this chance of getting your pokemon back? Hoax or not, it's a chance you have to take!"

Lance clenched his fists tightly. He looked at the fearow flying around them and then at the bag. He had no other choice. "Fine," he said.

Steven smiled. Just as he was about to chase after the helicopter, the fearow blocked him. It was obvious that it was ordered not to let either of them escape so easily. "They really don't want us chasing them down, do they?"

"Dragonite, use Fire Blast!" Lance suddenly ordered. A searing hot flame was thrown towards the fearow. The flying pokemon easily dodged it and went aiming for Lance again. Luckily, Dragonite flew out of the way just fast enough so that fearow passed by without injuring Lance.

But, without rest, the fearow homed in towards either of the champions. It was so fast, that neither had the opportunity to attack it.

"Damn it! It's way too fast!"

Steven only managed to catch glimpses of the fearow weaving in and around him and Lance. When the fearow finally stopped for a brief moment, Steven took this as a chance to attack. "Metagross, quick! Shadow Ball!"

Metagross swiftly hurled the attack at fearow. It dodged it barely and came flying in towards Steven a little slower than it had been before. The Hoenn Champion narrowed his eyes and waited until Metagross flew towards the side to dodge the fearow. Right at the moment when the fearow passed by, Steven reached out and took hold of the bag around it's crooked neck. In the process of yanking it off, he lost his footing on Metagross.

Just as Steven was about to fall down to the earth, Lance grabbed his hand.

"You're crazy," Lance commented, letting a little smile decorate his face. He gripped Steven's hand tightly.

The silver haired champion let out a soft laugh. "Maybe a little..."

Lance looked up and saw the fearow readying an attack. "Hold on!" Just as those words left his lips, the fearow flapped its wings furiously and created a strong gust. Both champions struggled to hold on to each others hands as the gust ripped through the air.

Suddenly, the gust stopped. Steven turned his head slightly to see what had stopped it and saw that it was Metagross, fending off the fearow. Before he could say any sort of praise, he felt Lance's grip on his hand tightening. Steven looked up and saw Lance's arm visibly shaking.

"Damn it, why are you so heavy?" Lance grunted as he tried to hold on to Steven. "Are you made out of steel yourself or something?"

"What?" Right as Steven uttered those words, Lance let go of his hand and slipped off of Dragonite's back due to the imbalance of weight on one side.

In a split second, both of them fell towards the ground. Lance saw his Dragonite make a move to dive down and save them, but that image was quickly lost for he saw nothing but foliage in the next second. Both Lance and Steven grunted as they fell through the top layer of trees. Branches snapped and leaves were rustling as they tumbled down.

Finally, Lance felt his back collide with the ground. He managed to push himself up to a sitting position as he groaned. The back of his head ached with a sharp pain, but he didn't feel the warm wetness of blood when he reached back with his hand. However, he felt a stinging sensation on his face presumably from the branches and some parts of his long black cape were torn for they took the majority of the damage. He clenched his teeth and held the back of his neck, making sure there were no other serious injuries.

"Here."

Lance saw the small bag being held just a few inches away from his face. He looked up and saw Steven holding the bag by the frayed rope. Lance took the bag from him and looked at Steven as if he were annoyed.

"Do you enjoy injuring yourself?"

"Huh?" Steven looked down at himself and saw that his neat suit was slightly torn. He raised his hand up to his cheek and tenderly touched a bruise that had begun to form.

"You just got better and now it looks like you're going to have to get fixed up all over again." Lance sighed.

"It looks that way," Steven laughed softly. He faced Lance again and said, "but...you got your pokemon back. Take a look."

Lance opened up the bag and saw his other pokemon safely in the minimized pokeballs. He let out a relieved sigh. The red head seemed hesitant for a while, but he eventually made eye contact with Steven and said, "thanks. I...I don't think I could've gotten back without your help." He flashed a half-smile.

The Hoenn champion looked rather stunned for a second before he chuckled. "No problem."

As they helped each other to stand up on their feet, both Dragonite and Metagross came down to meet them. The orange dragon seemed rather apologetic as it clasped it's hands together in front of its chest. It lowered its head slightly and its antennas seemed to droop. Lance noticed this and walked up to it. He smiled as he rubbed Dragonite on its head. "It's fine Dragonite. It wasn't your fault."

Dragonite trilled softly, looking a bit happier.

Steven went over to Metagross and touched one of its massive steel arms. "You did good today, Metagross. I bet you're tired now. Take some rest, you deserve it." Metagross groaned lowly as Steven zapped it back into its pokeball. He let out a little sigh and asked Lance, "we should head over to Cynthia and make sure she's okay, shouldn't we?"

Lance gave a slight nod. "Yeah, we should. Although...I think she could do just fine herself," he stated with a slight chuckle.

Suddenly, off in the distance, they both heard a thundering explosion and saw a huge water column erupt towards the night sky.

"That's in the direction of the lake!" Steven exclaimed. "...Perhaps you spoke too soon..."

* * *

**A/N **_I hate writer's block. _

_Read and review!  
_


End file.
